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Laika's 'Wildwood' Premieres as Handcrafted Stop-Motion Adventure
Confirmed
In Short: Wildwood, the latest stop-motion animated film from Laika, premiered as a magical adventure based on Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis' book.
The film follows Prue McKeel, an independent seventh grader played by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, who must rescue her baby brother Mac from a parallel magical universe.
Prue and her classmate Curtis Mehlberg encounter fantastical creatures and bandits as they navigate the treacherous forest of Wildwood.
Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, continues to innovate in stop-motion animation, pushing the boundaries of the art form.
The film's climactic battle sequence features over 400 shots, setting a record as the longest stop-motion movie at 132 minutes.
Wildwood blends elements of Labyrinth and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, creating a story that echoes the transportive qualities of Studio Ghibli films.
The film's handcrafted nature, with its elaborate worlds and lifelike motion, reflects Laika's commitment to the painstaking work of stop-motion animation.
Director Travis Knight emphasizes the unique storytelling potential of stop-motion, noting that the film could be told in various formats but stop-motion offers a distinct charm.
Wildwood, set to release on October 23, promises to be Laika's biggest adventure yet, continuing the studio's legacy of magical and dark tales.
The film's production began in 2011, when Knight purchased the film rights after reading the novel before its public release.
Wildwood is a testament to Laika's dedication to creating magical worlds that do not shy away from darker themes, reflecting the studio's commitment to storytelling depth.
What's confirmed
- The film follows Prue McKeel, an independent seventh grader played by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, who must rescue her baby brother Mac from a parallel magical universe.
- Prue and her classmate Curtis Mehlberg encounter fantastical creatures and bandits as they navigate the treacherous forest of Wildwood.
- Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, continues to innovate in stop-motion animation, pushing the boundaries of the art form.
- The film's climactic battle sequence features over 400 shots, setting a record as the longest stop-motion movie at 132 minutes.
- Wildwood blends elements of Labyrinth and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, creating a story that echoes the transportive qualities of Studio Ghibli films.
- The film's handcrafted nature, with its elaborate worlds and lifelike motion, reflects Laika's commitment to the painstaking work of stop-motion animation.
- Director Travis Knight emphasizes the unique storytelling potential of stop-motion, noting that the film could be told in various formats but stop-motion offers a distinct charm.
- Wildwood, set to release on October 23, promises to be Laika's biggest adventure yet, continuing the studio's legacy of magical and dark tales.
- The film's production began in 2011, when Knight purchased the film rights after reading the novel before its public release.
- Wildwood is a testament to Laika's dedication to creating magical worlds that do not shy away from darker themes, reflecting the studio's commitment to storytelling depth.
What's still developing
- Wildwood begins as a love letter for its city, and at the end of the credits, finishes with the note that the film was handcrafted in Portland.
- Since its debut with Coraline in 2009, Laika has continuously pushed the art of handmade stop-motion animation.
- Mixing elements from stories like Labyrinth and The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Wildwood spins an adventurous yarn with many pleasant surprises, and even a few shocking ones.
- Its animated worlds have continuously evolved to look more elaborate, its animation techniques have become more innovative, and its stop-motion puppets navigate these magical worlds with an even smoother and deceptively lifelike motion.
- The kids have stumbled into a parallel magical universe, and must learn to be the heroes in their own story if they want to fight back against the forces of dark magic and rescue Mac from the woods’ villainous, grief-stricken villainous ruler Alexandra (Carey Mulligan).
- This is the second stop-motion film ever made by Pixar, following another experimental short called Self recently.
- "And that is the legend of the very first peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
- LAIKA, the studio that brought you Coraline, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, etc., now offers its latest film, Wildwood, based on the novel by Colin Meloy (best known as the frontman for the indie folk-rock band The Decemberists) and illustrator Carson Ellis ( Du Iz Tak?
- Stop-motion animation is an art form that we only see every now and again and despite most everyone seeing the obvious charm of it, it still feels like we tend to take the painstaking work that goes into it for granted.
- He first read Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’ novel in the summer of 2011, before it was even available the the public; that fantastical story of a preteen girl who becomes embroiled in a magical civil war after her baby brother’s abduction by a murder of crows captured Knight’s heart and he immediately purchased the film rights.
- Anyone familiar with Laika’s body of work will recognise the foundations upon which Wildwood is built: an ordinary child enters an extraordinary world populated by strange and fantastic creatures.
- Their latest cinematic adventure, Wildwood, is a similarly ominous tale of adolescence, one about the fear of holding another's life in your hands, and accidentally losing it.