There’s something about stop motion animation that’s just beautiful. I moaned about it on Monday’s Movie Memes this week. Well, here’s something nice to look at: Wildwood.
I had to look it up, but yes, it’s stop motion; it looked a bit too ‘clean’. It’s from Laika, the production team behind movies like Coraline, ParaNorman, The Box Trolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings; all great animations.
The cast for Wildwood is impressive; Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Jamaine Clement, Tom Waits, Richard E. Grant, and, sadly, Awkafina.
Travis Knight directs. He is best known for directing Kubo, Bumblebee, and recently, Masters of the Universe. I saw MotU on streaming, and had fun with it. It knew what it was, and played tongue-in-cheek.
The story for Wildwood is:
The adventures of Prue McKeel as she sets off to the forests outside Portland to find her kidnapped brother.
Production of the movie started in Sept 2021 at Laika’s hometown of Portland, Oregon. I mention that because Wildwood takes place in Portland and marks the most ambitious movie the production team has ever taken on. The movie features over 136 sets and 231 practical puppets. For a stop motion animation, that’s pretty impressive.
Wildwood will be released in cinemas on the 23rd Oct.
