Laika’s animated fantasy epic “Wildwood,” directed by Travis Knight, has its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. Multiple outlets note the film’s unusually long development timeline for a stop-motion production, with one report emphasizing that the project has taken about 16 years to reach the screen.
The story centers on a teenage girl who enters a mysterious kingdom to search for her kidnapped brother. Reviews describe the film as ambitious in scope and marked by highly detailed, handcrafted visuals that showcase stop-motion artistry. While outlets broadly agree that the production is technically impressive and emotionally engaging, they differ on how strongly the movie sustains its “magic” or narrative enchantment from sequence to sequence. One review calls it a triumph of craft and feeling, while another finds it less captivating than some of Laika’s earlier best-known work. Together, the coverage frames “Wildwood” as both a major studio achievement and a film with uneven moments in its overall effect.
