A scene from “Wildwood.”
Laika Studios
Laika Studio’s new stop-motion animated feature Wildwood is being showered with unanimous praise by Rotten Tomatoes’ critics following the film’s debut at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday.
The world premiere of Wildwood — the sixth stop-motion feature produced by Laika since 2009 — comes just under two weeks ahead of the film’s Oct. 23 release in theaters. Directed by Travis Knight from a screenplay by Chris Butler, Wildwood chronicles the adventure of Prue McKeel (voice of Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a teen girl who launches a search for her baby brother after he’s abducted by a murder of crows.
Joined by her classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), Prue ventures into the Impassable Wilderness, which is an impassable forest beyond Portland, Ore., where they encounter talking animals, bandits and powerful bandits.
Rated PG-13, Wildwood also stars the voices of Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali, Carey Mulligan, Jake Johnson, Awkwafina, Charlie Day, Maya Erskine, Tom Waits, Jemaine Clement, Tantoo Cardinal and Richard E. Grant.
Currently, Wildwood has a perfect 100% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer based on 15 reviews. RT’s Critics Consensus is still pending, while the film’s Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings, won’t be posted on the site until the film opens in theaters.
If Wildwood maintains its 100% “fresh” designation, it will mark the first time a Laika film has earned a perfect critics’ score on RT. The studio’s first feature, 2009’s Coraline, earned a 91% “fresh” critics’ score, while 2012’s ParaNorman, which was awarded an 89% “fresh” score.
After that, 2014’s The Boxtrolls earned a 78% “fresh” critics’ score, followed by 2016’s Kubo and the Two Strings with a 97% “fresh” score and 2019’s Missing Link with a 88% “fresh” score.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Wildwood’?
William Bibianni of The Wrap is among RT’s top critics who give Wildwood a “fresh” score on RT. Bibbiani writes in his RT review summary, “It’s impressive to watch Travis Knight’s film even if you don’t know how the sausage got made. If you do know, if you even have the slightest inkling, then it’s one of the most astonishing animated films ever produced.”
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter also lauds the film, writing on RT, “Laika’s most ambitious effort to date, Wildwood may also be the company’s masterpiece.”
In his “fresh” review on RT, Guy Lodge of Variety writes, “Some longtime Laika fans may harbor warmer feelings for the studio’s smaller, quirkier outings, but as both a formal achievement and a generation-crossing crowd pleaser, Wildwood is a spectacular success.”
While she has some reservations about Wildwood, Wendy Ide of Screen International still praises the film with a “fresh” score on RT, writing, “If the story lacks some originality, the execution more than makes up for it. The dazzling stop motion animation breaks new ground in terms of scale, intricacy and ambition. You won’t have seen anything quite like this before.’
Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian also lauds Wildwood, writing on RT, “It’s a forthright, exuberant, good-natured and old-fashioned children’s tale which CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien might have recognized.”
Wildwood opens in theaters on Oct. 23.
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