[00:01] second that the credits roll, I just think to myself, [ __ ] I hope this movie does really well. Like, I hope that they're rewarded for this effort and this beautiful piece of art that they've just produced here.
[00:15] And that's my feelings on Leica's newest movie, Wildwood. This apparently took like 16 years to make. And what they have created here is jaw-dropping. Now, I'm someone who also didn't see Coraline
[00:30] until last week. I watched Coraline for the first time a week ago to prepare for Wildwood, and I really liked Coraline. I think Wildwood is an evolution of
[00:42] everything they did there, and is I think probably the best stop motion feature film ever made. It is like, I can't even find the words to describe how goodlooking this movie is. Like you
[00:55] can really feel the passion and love poured into every single [ __ ] frame of this movie. So, let's get into the nitty-gritty a bit. The film follows a kid named Pru as she takes her baby brother Mac on an adventure around town,
[01:09] and that town is Oregon. And she's got her baby brother in a wagon. She's riding her bike around and getting up to all kinds of high jinks around there. And then she runs into Curtis, who's someone that she's not a huge fan of,
[01:23] but they're like on friendlyish terms. And then they kind of hang out for a minute. But Mac gets kidnapped by a murder of crows and taken to this enchanted forest that her father has warned her numerous times to never go
[01:38] near. But in order to save Mac, she and Curtis go into that forest. And that's where like the magical journey really starts. You meet a lot of characters, a lot of talking animals, also some humans in there as well. And the thing that
[01:53] immediately jumped out at me, like from the very first scene, it became clear the very first scene, it became clear that this isn't like a kids movie, per se, like for, you know, babies or anything. It tackles a lot darker
[02:06] themes. And there is more blood and death in this film than like the death in this film than like the entirety of the DCU. Like there is so entirety of the DCU. Like there is so much death. There's even like some gore
[02:19] towards the end with their final battle like and there is a lot of blood which surprised me cuz I didn't know this movie was PG-13. I just assumed that it was just going to be like a PG all ages kind of movie. And while it is all ages,
[02:35] it's probably not one you want to take like a really young kid to. like a like a really young kid to. like a really little toddler probably wouldn't wouldn't like to see all of that blood and death there cuz there is a lot of it
[02:49] like a shocking amount and like there was I don't want to get into spoilers for this one. This is a review I'm going to avoid big spoilers on. There is a scene where there's a character that is being fleshed out and a character we're
[03:02] spending a good bit of time with uh with Pru and her really connecting and then out of nowhere they are slain like brutally murdered and it like actually
[03:15] was shocking like to me and then the entire theater exclaimed like an audible gasp and the people behind me one of them said oh No. And then I could hear
[03:28] no way they're actually dead, right? They're actually dead. This isn't a film where like if a character looks like they die, they somehow get brought back magic." No, they're just [ __ ] dead. Like they they're going to Valhalla.
[03:42] They're going to the great beyond. They shed the moral coil. And it wasn't peaceful. It is like I didn't expect that at all, but I think the movie is so much better for it cuz it does tackle some big stuff. and it immediately draws
[03:56] you into the stakes. So when you have like Curtis being captured for example, the other prisoners there and Curtis, their lives are literally hanging in the balance and some of them do get killed. So like it it really feels big. It feels
[04:14] impactful and I cannot glaze the final fight enough. This is a stop motion film, meaning these are physical things in the real world that you are watching animation and everything on it, but like they have to actually do this like in
[04:31] real life. And there is the movie culminates with a giant war, a huge war like by all accounts up there with some of like the best war scenes from films
[04:46] your Lord of the Rings, even like your Game of Thrones, Battle of the Bastards Obviously, these are very different kinds of wars, but here it is massive in
[04:59] scope and there is so much happening, so many people being killed, a lot of many people being killed, a lot of blood, a lot of like beheading at one point. And all of it being stop motion makes me wonder how long did that war
[05:13] take for them to make? Because it's long. It's like probably 20 minutes and it just keeps snowballing into a giant avalanche of death and destruction, arrows flying, cannons going, trebuche, like everything. Uh, also like some
[05:29] pretty cool action choreography. How long did that take to make for this? That alone must have taken years cuz it's stopotion. That had to have taken such a painstakingly long amount of time. But the result is stunning. just
[05:45] absolutely unbelievable how good that looks. I love love the war, especially you're introduced to a ton of characters, but you never feel like bogged down by it or overwhelmed. Like, it's characters that you do connect with
[06:00] and do care about and want to see, you know, them survive the war. And this is war. And in fact, I guess this is a little spoiler, they don't all survive the war. This is a film that really does
[06:14] put emphasis on character death. So like they are on the chopping block during the war. So it keeps it intense, keeps you on the edge of your seat. And it just looks so good, man. It really is a movie that surprised me across the
[06:28] expectations. I had a feeling I was going to love the look of this film. But it wasn't just how great it looks. The whole movie was super super good. I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the characters. I really enjoyed
[06:42] for some things that I think maybe came up short, there's really only two I can point to. The biggest one, and it is like an actual complaint, is the parents. The the parents, like Pru's
[06:54] parents, Pru and Max's parents, they are [ __ ] useless, man. Like actually, like they are bad parents. So, their big thing is how much they love their children and wanting to protect them from that, you know, impassible forest.
[07:09] And then when everything goes tits up and Mac is kidnapped and everything, they are still completely useless and are doing nothing to try and save their son, their baby. So instead, it falls entirely on the shoulders of Pru to do
[07:25] something about it. Like they're just cowards and they don't do anything. And I guess it's kind of the point of them. Like you're not supposed to hate them. Like I again I'm trying to avoid I'm gonna get into a little spoilers here
[07:38] gonna get into a little spoilers here because it is a complaint big pretty big spoiler actually. They wanted children so bad but couldn't conceive on their so bad but couldn't conceive on their own which is where the impassible forest
[07:51] own which is where the impassible forest and the Pu family collide. the witch of that forest who has gone through a personal tragedy of her own, losing her son, uh connects with Pru's family, their mom and dad, and they make a deal
[08:05] that using magic, they will get pregnant and they will have a a child that they can raise as their own, but their second child must be given to her, the witch from the from the forest. And they agree to that, thinking that, you know, this
[08:20] maybe won't even work, but it does. So they have Pu and then later even though they didn't want to have to give it to the witch, they have that second child and now that's how this happens where a child gets kidnapped by that witch back
[08:33] to the forest. So, like they're so afraid of her and like refusing to engage because now they don't want to lose Pu, but they're like, "Okay, because they made okay is not really the right word, but like they're willing to
[08:46] accept that Mac is gone, but at least they still have pro." Like that's just parents. Like it immediately makes you go like, "Wow, what a shitty thing for these parents to be like, you know, t tinkering around
[09:00] with the notion of being okay with because they made that deal." like, "No, your child has been kidnapped, right? Like, you would do anything to save them." And it's something Prew even mentions at the end where the dad's
[09:13] like, "Sometimes you have to know uh when enough is enough or like when to give in." It was something like that. And Pru's like, "Well, I'm glad I never And Pru's like, "Well, I'm glad I never did." Even though like he and the mom
[09:25] did like throw in the towel. So, like I didn't like the parents very much. I like I thought they were like fine characters. Like they they had some cool lines, some like deep lines, but otherwise they were just kind of useless
[09:39] and it's weird that they wouldn't try harder to save their baby boy. But, you thing that I think would be an actual complaint for me is that I just didn't really like the parents. The only other thing is there is a group introduced in
[09:54] this movie pretty early on when Pru and Curtis get here. Uh they get separated Curtis get here. Uh they get separated and Pru meets the governor and his and Pru meets the governor and his assistant and there's like a whole
[10:08] escape sequence where she gets like trapped in this big uh you know mansion, this big estate because she's an outsider and they're kind of panicked spell like no one's ever allowed in but somehow she does and the governor and
[10:23] then everyone freaks out. So now all of the talking animals and everything are manages to escape. You never see them again for the rest of the film, even of like central players in it since they are like the law of the land here. So
[10:40] end of the movie where they're just kind of wrapping everything up. Like after the climax, after everything's been resolved, then they get brought back into the fold at the very end for like a three minute scene. And I just thought
[10:52] that was kind of weird because they were kind of interesting. Like I would have liked to see more because the governor and his assistant who kind of controls him like their dynamic was entertaining and it's a really cool idea about how
[11:04] they got into power and what that means for this land but we don't get to see any of that. That gets thrown to the back burner and it's this is kind of a longer film so I imagine they didn't want to make it too long so they don't
[11:18] know. I just really like the movie a lot. I thought they were interesting. I it's not that big of a deal. So, that one's not even really a complaint. Just something I wanted more of is all. Which I guess is a good problem to have that
[11:31] the movie is so good. I just want more from everything and everyone in it. And from everything and everyone in it. And like I really just I hope Wildwood does deserves it. This deserves to be a [ __ ] home run because I think what
[11:44] they made here is extraordinary. So, yeah, I thought Wildwood was amazing. yeah, I thought Wildwood was amazing. Anyway, that's really about it. T.