Venture Into The Impassible Wilderness In Final ‘Wildwood’ Trailer
by Erik Amaya
Laika is such a dependable animation studio. It’s stop-motion animation techniques are second-to-none and the worlds they create are intricate and inviting. Even the Impassible Wilderness of its upcoming Wildwood is a thing of beauty as you can see in the trailer below:
Directed by Kubo and the Two String‘s Travis Knight and written by ParaNorman‘s Chris Butler — based on the novel written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis — the film centers on Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a teenager whose younger brother is abducted by a murder of crows. She soon sets out into the Impassible Wilderness near Portland, Oregon to save him. Along for the ride is Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), a hapless classmate who aids Prue in charting a world of “talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition.” Soon, they are part of a conflict within the forest and Prue must make desperate choices to rescue her brother and the Wildwood itself.
And based on the trailer, this might be the most epic Laika film yet. You might not expect to see large-scale battles in one of their films, and yet, here it is. Additionally, Tom Waits lends his voice to a character. Other members of the voice cast include Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Tantoo Cardinal, and Richard E. Grant.
Wildwood arrives in theaters on October 23rd.