By Sean Avery
Columbia Gorge News
OREGON — The Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, and a plethora of Oregon landmarks are gracing the big screen this Fall — all stunningly realized through handcrafted sets and painstakingly detailed stop-motion animation.
Hillsboro-based independent studio Laika, famed for the Halloween classic “Coraline,” among other Oscar-nominated titles, released its latest feature film “Wildwood” on Oct. 23, adapted from The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy’s 2011 eponymous young adult novel.
Directed by Laika CEO Travis Knight, veteran animator and son of Nike founder Phil Knight, the film is an enchanting, high-stakes fantasy epic with jaw-dropping, genre-defining visuals — a love letter to its birthplace and a beacon of hope in the age of generative AI.
If you call the Pacific Northwest home and cherish original stories, it’s simply a must-see.
The story centers on headstrong Portland tween Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), who takes her baby brother Mac for an adventurous bike ride around the city, towing him in a cart past street artists, coffee shops, and classic Rose City locales. The animation feels fluid and natural, sweetly capturing my hometown’s colorful charm and striking scenery.
Prue stumbles upon her bashful and nerdy classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) moments before the two are thrust into a madcap sprint to save Mac, who is unceremoniously swooped up by a murder of crows and kidnapped into the “Impassable Wilderness” — a magical wooded realm situated where real-life Forest Park lies.
In this mysterious land, chock-full of curious creatures, militarized coyotes, and dueling governments, Prue and Curtis confront Alexandra (Carrie Mulligan), a conniving foe with a tragic past.
Beyond the inventive character models, which display limber expressions and movements, “Wildwood” features beautiful hand-crafted sets that zero in on fine details. Every environment is lush, precise, and bursting with life.
Though not without its kid-friendly humor, the story is mature, examining grief, power, and acceptance. With its PG-13 rating and more than two-hour runtime — both rare for mainstream American animation — the film gets brutal and bloody, heightening its already felt stakes with large-scale chases and violent battles. The final sequence, which took the studio several years to animate, flirts with the climactic peaks of fantasy bouts seen in “The Lord of the Rings” or “Game of Thrones.
The voice cast is top-to-bottom excellent. Mulligan’s performance as Alexandra is the standout, realizing a motherly and seductive yet deeply sinister antagonist.
In an industry more reluctant to produce original stories, simultaneously challenged by new technologies that try — and ultimately fail — to replace human creativity, “Wildwood” offers a fantastic theater-going experience rich in wonder. Handcrafted by local artists, this beautiful ode to the Pacific Northwest needs your support at the box office.
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