This one adapts the children's fantasy novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis into the kind of tactile, hand-crafted weirdness Laika has spent two decades perfecting — the studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings is back, and the vibes? Immaculate.
The Story Pulls You Straight Into the Woods
Here's the premise, and honestly, how could I not be hooked? Prue McKeel, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, teams up with her classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) after her baby brother Mac gets snatched by crows and pulled into a magical forest just outside Portland, Oregon. The official description teases "warring factions, extraordinary creatures, and a world unlike anything she's ever known" — which, if you've ever wondered what happens when you give a children's book author free rein and a Laika-sized puppet budget, sounds like the answer.
And can we talk about the Pacific Northwest as a setting for once? Not every animated adventure needs to be a fairy-tale kingdom or a far-off galaxy. A misty, enchanted forest on the edge of Portland? That's the kind of world-building I live for.
A Voice Cast That Reads Like a Fandom Wishlist
Let's run through this lineup because it is stacked. Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Jemaine Clement, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson, and — wait for it — Tom Waits. Tom Waits in a stop-motion animated film about crows and magical forests. If that sentence doesn't make you sit up straighter, we may simply be reading different headlines today. This is exactly the kind of casting choice that tells you Travis Knight and the team understand the assignment: respect the source material's tone while layering in voices that bring genuine texture to every creature and faction.
What I'm Watching For
Wildwood opens in theaters on Oct. 23, directed by Travis Knight — a name Laika fans know well, and a reason this one carries real weight on the calendar. Stop-motion isn't a nostalgia act; it's a deliberate creative choice that demands patience, craft, and a story worth telling at twelve frames a second. Based on what the trailer is already telegraphing, Laika isn't just keeping the tradition alive — they're reminding us why it mattered in the first place.
So mark the date, keep an eye on those first reactions once the press tour rolls around, and tell me in the comments: are you a stop-motion purist, or is this your gateway film? Either way, Wildwood is shaping up like the kind of theatrical event animation fans have been waiting all year for.