Every week on Cinebuds sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors, Kristopher Pollard from Milwaukee Film and Radio Milwaukee’s Dori Zori review movies, tell you which ones are showing in our city and talk with the people who help bring them to the big screen.
It’s not often that the movie world of Cinebuds intersects so directly with the music-centric part of Radio Milwaukee, but that’s exactly the situation we find ourselves in with the release of Laika Studios’ stop-motion epic, Wildwood.
To find that meeting point, we need to go all the way back to 2011 and the publication of the source material, which just so happened to come from the mind of Colin Meloy, frontman for indie icons The Decemberists. He had made a few quick dips in the literary pool prior to Wildwood, but the fantasy story was his debut novel that quickly caught the eye of Laika Studios, which optioned it for potential development.
Fifteen years later, that potential has become reality with the studio’s longest and most ambitious stop-motion film to date — an effort that’s paying off handsomely, based on how the movie has been received. Dori and Kpolly are prime examples of the raves that have rolled in, and there’s a lot of love to spread around:
- Craftsmanship and scale — Laika is well-known for their painstaking artistry around films like Coraline and Kubo & The Two Strings, and it’s in ready supply here as well. The animation is breathtaking both in its fine details and massive scope, particularly a 12-minute battle sequence that reportedly took seven YEARS to create.
- World-building and setting — Meloy set the table for this one by creating the Impassable Wilderness and its inhabitants, but even the decision to set the story in Portland is worthy of note and gives the film a very particular flavor of the Pacific Northwest.
- Heart and complexity — If you’ve seen a Laika film before, you’ll know the studio doesn’t shy away from darkness in projects directed at a younger audience. Wildwood has the same edge while keeping its focus on the love and caring that propels the story forward.
- Cast and music — The chosen voices for the movie jump off the screen, with instantly recognizable performances by the likes of Angela Bassett, Tom Waits, Awkwafina, Mahershala Ali, Jake Johnson and on and on and on. Every scene seems to bring another “hey, I know that voice” moment, and the soundtrack (that includes a sneaky Star Wars Easter egg) syncs beautifully with the visuals.
Get even more detail in the full episode, and stick around to the end for Dori and Kpolly’s quick hot takes on their other recent watches, including The Death of Robin Hood and The Drama.
