Every LAIKA film is a small act of defiance: an hour and a half or more of puppets moved by hand, a frame at a time, in an industry that increasingly prefers shortcuts. Wildwood takes that defiance to an extreme. At 2 hours 12 minutes it is the longest stop-motion feature ever made, with more than 130 sets and some 200 practical puppets, and you can feel the care in every shot.
Directed by Travis Knight, the man behind Kubo and the Two Strings, and adapted by Chris Butler from Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’s 2011 novel, it is a dark, sprawling fantasy that looks like nothing else in cinemas this year. The story does not always match the wonder of the images, but the images are something else.
Wildwood is a staggering feat of handmade cinema, a fairy tale built one frame at a time.
Movie at a Glance
- UK and Ireland cinemas: 23 October 2026 (wide release)
- US cinemas: 23 October 2026 (wide release)
- UK certificate: 12A
- Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
- Director: Travis Knight
- Screenplay: Chris Butler, from the novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis
- Voice cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Tom Waits and Richard E. Grant
- Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel
- Music: Dario Marianelli
- UK distributor: Black Bear Pictures
- Genre: Stop-motion fantasy adventure
Viewer Match
- Best for: Animation lovers, LAIKA devotees and older children who like their fairy tales with real teeth.
- Maybe skip if: You need a tight, surprising story, or your youngest family members scare easily: the 12A rating is there for a reason.
- Mood and pace: Epic, dark and densely detailed, with a long middle stretch before a huge final battle.
- Cinema or streaming? Cinema, without question. This is a big-screen film in every handmade frame.
- Spoiler level: Spoiler-free: only the opening set-up.
Into the Impassable Wilderness
Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is a teenager in Portland, Oregon, who has decided she is too old for her dad’s stories about the forbidden woods across the river. Then, on an afternoon when she has taken her baby brother Mac out against her parents’ wishes, a murder of crows swoops down and carries him away, in a sequence as frightening as anything in a live-action thriller.
With her awkward classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) tagging along, Prue follows the birds into the Impassable Wilderness, a hidden world of talking animals, bandits, bureaucrats and a coyote army in red military coats, all caught up in a brewing war.
A Villain With a Broken Heart
The film’s emotional engine is Alexandra, the exiled Dowager Governess, voiced with poisonous grief by Carey Mulligan. She is no cartoon tyrant: her cruelty grows out of the loss of her son, and Mulligan makes her both frightening and pitiable.
Around her, the voice cast is stacked. Richard E. Grant is a delight as the theatrical Owl Rex, Angela Bassett brings authority to a giant golden eagle, Tom Waits growls memorably as the coyote commander, and Mahershala Ali lends warmth to the Bandit King, even if the script gives him little more than an archetype to play.
More Spectacle Than Story
If Wildwood has a weakness, it is the story under all that splendour. The plot follows familiar fantasy paths, and once Prue and Curtis are separated the long middle section loses some momentum, with a parade of new creatures and factions that are more fun to look at than to follow. Curtis in particular never quite gets a reason to exist beyond being Prue’s loyal sidekick.
It is also notably darker than most family animation, with real peril and a full-scale battle. Older children will be thrilled; little ones may be frightened.
The Most Ambitious Film LAIKA Has Made
None of that undoes the achievement. Shot by six-time Oscar nominee Caleb Deschanel in his first stop-motion film, Wildwood is gorgeous from the misty Portland streets to the vast forest battles, and Dario Marianelli’s sweeping score gives it real grandeur. A small amount of digital help is used to extend the scale, but the heart of every scene is the tactile, handmade magic that has made LAIKA so treasured.
It may not be the studio’s most perfectly told story, but it is its boldest, and a reminder of what animation can be when nobody takes a shortcut.
Spoiler-Free Verdict
Wildwood is a breathtaking, record-breaking stop-motion fantasy with a superb Carey Mulligan villain and some of the most beautiful images of the year. Its story is more conventional than its craft, and it is darker than the average family film, but this is handmade cinema at its most ambitious.
- Performances: 8.5/10
- Direction: 9/10
- Screenplay: 7/10
- Score: 8.5/10
- Cinematography: 9.5/10
- Entertainment Value: 8.5/10
- Overall score: 8.5/10
Star rating: 4/5
Verdict badge: Worth Seeing
One-line verdict: A dazzling, darkly enchanting LAIKA epic that deserves the biggest screen you can find.
Watch the Official Trailer
The official trailer may reveal more than this spoiler-free review.
Is Wildwood the stop-motion event of the year, or does story matter more than spectacle? Share your thoughts with Movieversalfilm.