Film tip: Wildwood brings an enchanted forest to life on the big screen

Wildwood takes stop-motion animation to extraordinary new heights with a sweeping fantasy adventure filled with talking animals, mysterious creatures and a forest that refuses to welcome outsiders. From the studio behind Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, Travis Knight's spectacular new film is already earning remarkable reviews for its handcrafted world, ambitious storytelling and emotional depth.

Film details

• Title: Wildwood
• Premiere date in the Netherlands: 22 October 2026
• Director: Travis Knight
• Runtime: 139 minutes according to KINO, although some international listings give 130 to 132 minutes
• Genre: Animation, adventure, fantasy
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Dutch
• Age rating: 9+
• Voice cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Richard E. Grant, Amandla Stenberg, Charlie Day and Tom Waits
• Where to watch in Rotterdam: KINO and Cinerama

What's the vibe?

Just outside Portland, Oregon, lies the Impassable Wilderness, a mysterious stretch of forest where ordinary people are forbidden and the local wildlife has considerably more going on than anyone suspects.

When a flock of crows abducts her baby brother Mac, young Prue McKeel ventures into the forbidden woods to rescue him. Her classmate Curtis joins the mission, and together they discover a hidden civilisation populated by talking animals, dangerous bandits, powerful rulers and creatures with agendas of their own.

What begins as a rescue mission quickly expands into an epic struggle involving rival factions, ancient magic and a forest whose future hangs in the balance.

Director Travis Knight brings the story to life using LAIKA's signature stop-motion technique, combining elaborate miniature sets, handmade characters and extraordinarily detailed animation. The result has the atmosphere of a traditional fantasy novel, with the strangeness of Coraline, the adventurous spirit of Kubo and the Two Strings and the sort of visual richness that makes you want to pause the film just to inspect the scenery.

There is plenty of humour and wonder, but Wildwood also ventures into darker territory. Grief, ambition, sacrifice and the complicated nature of good and evil all play a role. This is a fairy tale with sharp edges, and some of its inhabitants are considerably less cuddly than their animated appearances might suggest.

Trailer

Check out the trailer below.

Why you might like it

• Eyes: Handcrafted forests, intricately animated creatures, enormous fantasy battles and miniature worlds filled with details that would be easy to miss on a smaller screen.
• Heart: Prue's determination to rescue her brother provides the emotional foundation, while the wider story explores courage, loss, friendship and finding a place to belong.
• Mind: The film contrasts the familiar human world with a hidden civilisation, exploring how fear, prejudice and competing interests can turn an enchanted place into a dangerous one.

Critical reception

Wildwood has arrived to an extraordinary reception from critics, with early reviews suggesting that LAIKA may have produced one of its finest films.

As of 20 October, Rotten Tomatoes gives Wildwood 100% from 29 critic reviews, with an average rating of approximately 8.7 out of 10. Early Metacritic review tracking also places the film at around 86 out of 100, although the site's public score display has not yet consistently updated.

Empire awarded the film five stars, praising its ambitious scale, eccentric characters and the extraordinary richness of its stop-motion animation. The Telegraph was similarly enthusiastic, describing the handcrafted world as a remarkable achievement that makes the audience feel as though it has stepped into an entirely separate civilisation.

Screen International admired the film's technical accomplishments, suggesting that even when the narrative follows familiar fantasy conventions, the scale and complexity of the animation make the experience distinctive.

The Guardian was slightly more reserved, awarding three stars. Its review praised the film's visual beauty and traditional fantasy atmosphere but felt it lacked some of the emotional intensity and darker qualities that made Coraline so memorable.

IndieWire also questioned whether the storytelling quite matches the astonishing craftsmanship. Even so, the broader critical response is remarkably consistent in its admiration for the work of LAIKA's animators.

Wildwood had its world premiere at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival and has already collected an important award. At the 59th Sitges Film Festival, which concluded on 18 October, it won the Grand People's Choice Award for Best Feature Film in the official fantastic competition.

That audience prize is particularly encouraging for such an ambitious production. It suggests that the film's appeal extends beyond animation enthusiasts and critics to audiences prepared to spend more than two hours exploring its strange and beautiful world.

Scene to watch for

Watch the moment when Prue and Curtis begin discovering just how alive the Impassable Wilderness really is.

The forest gradually reveals its hidden inhabitants, unusual architecture and complex ecosystem. What initially appears to be ordinary woodland becomes a world where every tree, creature and shadow might conceal something unexpected.

This is where the film's extraordinary craftsmanship becomes particularly apparent. Tiny movements, detailed textures and carefully controlled lighting give the environment a physical presence that computer-generated animation does not always achieve in quite the same way.

It is also a good reminder that the best fantasy worlds feel as though they existed long before the main characters arrived.

Recommended pairing

Make an afternoon of it with a woodland walk before the screening. Rotterdam has plenty of green spaces where you can enjoy the autumn colours without worrying about being kidnapped by crows or negotiating with an army of talking animals.

For food, try something warm and comforting, such as mushroom soup, freshly baked bread or an apple pastry with cinnamon. Autumn flavours seem especially appropriate for a film involving enchanted forests and strange woodland inhabitants.

Afterwards, a quiet drink and a conversation about the animation could be just as rewarding as discussing the story. If you are watching with children, challenge them to spot the smallest background details they remember from the film. There will probably be quite a few.

Need-to-knows

Wildwood is based on the 2011 fantasy novel by Colin Meloy, the frontman of American indie rock band The Decemberists. The book was illustrated by his wife, artist Carson Ellis, and became the first instalment in a trilogy. The screenplay adaptation was written by Chris Butler, who previously worked on ParaNorman and directed Missing Link.

The film has been a monumental undertaking for LAIKA. Development began roughly sixteen years before its release, with the actual production involving more than 1,000 artists and technicians.

According to behind-the-scenes production reporting, the filmmakers created around 130 sets, more than 200 costumes and over 140,000 interchangeable facial components to animate their characters. The film contains approximately 2,800 individual shots, an extraordinary workload when each movement must be carefully animated frame by frame.

Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, whose previous credits include The Passion of the Christ and The Lion King, helped establish the film's visual approach. The production combines traditional stop-motion photography with sophisticated lighting and digital techniques to create environments on a scale rarely attempted with this animation method.

Wildwood is also among the longest stop-motion animated features ever produced. Depending on the cinema and distributor, its listed runtime ranges from approximately 130 to 139 minutes.

It is worth paying attention to the age classification. Although the Dutch Kijkwijzer rating is 9, with warnings for fear and coarse language, the film's international classification also highlights strong fantasy violence, bloody imagery and some emotionally difficult themes. Younger or particularly sensitive children may find parts of the adventure unsettling.