Wildwood: reviews

What the critics say average 8.8 from 45 outlets

• 10 Screen RantLiz Declan From beginning to end, Wildwood is a truly captivating story with second-to-none stop-motion animation; fully-formed, nuanced characters who avoid common tropes; and a fantastical story that feels both familiar in its nuts-and-bolts and unique and unexpected in all the ways that matter. Read
• 10 The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck Laika's most ambitious effort to date, Wildwood may also be the company's masterpiece. Read
• 10 The TelegraphRobbie Collin Wildwood is a surpassingly beautiful and beguiling modern-day Narnia fable, every frame of which has been hand-crafted with a delicacy and artistry that took my breath away. Read
• 10 EmpireJohn Nugent Astonishing. An ode to outsiders and weirdos, alive with colour and atmosphere and eccentricity... Read
• 10 The Film StageAlistair Ryder It's a reminder of the magic and terror of the classic fantasy stories we grew up with recaptured on a breathtaking scale. It's among the best animated films in recent memory. Read
• 10 The Irish TimesDonald Clarke In an era of endless sequels and reboots, here is family entertainment that dares to mark out its own territory. Read
• 10 The Globe and MailAparita Bhandari It's the magical combination of the story, the setting and the leaps of faith taken by the characters and the animators bringing them to life that makes it remarkable. Read
• 10 New York TimesMaya Phillips In a world of A.I., reboots and repeats, it feels quietly remarkable to encounter a film whose every frame — every stitch of clothing, every feather, every leaf — is so painstakingly rendered by human hands. Read
• 10 The Daily BeastBarry Levitt It's a major leap forward in stop-motion animation, and its epic story perfectly balances familiar elements with new ideas... Read
• 10 SlateDana Stevens It's a dazzling exploration of the possibilities of stop-motion technology, as well as a classic coming-of-age fairy tale in the tradition of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books or Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. Read
• 10 Time OutPhil de Semlyen Wildwood is the perfect handmade antidote to AI... Read
• 10 The PlaylistCarlos Aguilar To call “Wildwood” the most stunning animated film of the year feels too reductive a compliment. It's cinema of the highest order, visually sumptuous, but even more importantly, believably heartfelt. Read
• 10 Little White LiesHannah Strong Laika have always been cited as an example of what's possible within animation when artists are given the time and resources to create, and Wildwood is their greatest testament to that ethos... Read
• 10 La VanguardiaPhilipp Engel There is no doubt that Wildwood is the greatest spectacle stop-motion has given us, one that leaves us breathless (a few more contemplative pauses would have been welcome) and that should stir the same excitement The Nightmare Before Christmas did in its day. Read
• 10 ClarinPablo O. Scholz What Travis Knight's Wildwood is, is a marvellous film, a fantasy in which we believe everything we are told, sinister characters and a mother who cannot finish grieving the death of her little son included. Read
• 9.5 HobbyConsolasRaquel Hernández Luján A delicacy for animation lovers: a standard-bearer for its genre that moves and astonishes with the level of perfection it reaches. Essential, and one of the high points of 2026. Read
• 9.4 The WrapWilliam Bibbiani If you do know, if you even have the slightest inkling, then it's one of the most astonishing animated films ever produced. Read
• 9.1 AwardsWatchRyan McQuade It's awe-inspiring work from a studio and director who have consistently left us amazed at what they are able to do with the art form... Read
• 9.0 ColliderAidan Kelley Laika has made many visually striking movies in their nearly two-decade career, but Wildwood soars above them all with some of the most breathtaking sequences of the year. Read
• 9.0 Next Best PictureMatt Neglia It is the finest animated film of the year and the crown jewel in LAIKA's remarkable, ever-growing legacy. Read
• 9.0 VarietyGuy Lodge As both a formal achievement and a generation-crossing crowdpleaser, “Wildwood” is a spectacular success. Read
• 9.0 SlashfilmWitney Seibold Some great characterization and animation are more than enough to elevate “Wildwood” into something breathtaking. I felt like I was drinking a cool glass of water after a months-long heatwave, left in tears by something so gorgeous. Read
• 9.0 LooperReuben Baron “Wildwood” has a strong, exciting, emotionally sophisticated story backing its next-level visual beauty... Read
• 9.0 The RevealKeith Phipps Wildwood works as a stunning rebuke to the former and a towering example of the possibilities offered by the latter. Read
• 9.0 CinemaníaAdrián Carande In another studio's hands, the premise could feel like a cliché. Under Laika, it is an ode to its own place in the world, one of the last bastions of animated cinema's ability to be genuinely magical. Read
• 9.0 EspinofRandy Meeks Because Wildwood is a desperate gamble, a film of outsized proportions and ambitions that delivers on almost everything it sets out to do. Read
• 8.9 The Austin ChronicleRichard Whittaker Wildwood is a perfect reminder of the incalculable value of the artist's hand, even if it is moving an armature on a puppet one tiny gesture at a time. In those motions, there is life and magic. Read
• 8.8 Slant MagazineKenji Fujishima The film's many world-building details aren't mere whimsy but correspond to a reality that reflects our own. Read
• 8.8 Roger EbertBrian Tallerico One of the elements that makes “Wildwood” so memorable is how well it works in both the small beats and the big ones. Read
• 8.8 The Boston GlobeOdie Henderson “Wildwood” isn't just a fantastic movie — it's a film that will make certain people feel seen. Read
• 8.8 The Travers TakePeter Travers Fasten your seatbelts—the art of stop-motion animation hits a new peak that will blow you away. Read
• 8.3 The A.V. ClubMonica Castillo Watching Wildwood feels like falling headfirst into a picture book, one with a story that's surprisingly dark and honest about the world and its dangers. Read
• 8.3 The Film MavenKristen Lopez Filled with some of the most superb, and technically ambitious, animation the studio has ever done, Wildwood continues to situate Laika as one of the best animation houses making movies today. Read
• 8.0 IGNTom Jorgensen Wildwood is an arresting, exciting fantasy epic made all the more impressive by the fact that it's handmade and hand-animated, even if some story stumbles occasionally hold it back. Read
• 8.0 Screen DailyWendy Ide If the story lacks some originality, the execution more than makes up for it. The dazzling stop-motion animation breaks new ground in terms of scale, intricacy and ambition. Read
• 8.0 Rolling StoneDavid Fear When director Travis Knight and his crack team of stop-motion commandos stage these impressively rendered yet extremely familiar sequences, it feels more like a triumph of animation than imagination. Read
• 8.0 Los Angeles TimesGary Goldstein For most audiences, especially animation-loving teens and adults, this should prove a spectacularly immersive ride... Read
• 8.0 El PaísJavier Ocaña The designs remain mind-blowing, as does the film's artistry in general, along with the features of the fantasy, its critique of that universe's puppet power and the fascination exerted by the story's would-be villain, the deeply ambiguous Dowager Governess. Read
• 7.5 The Seattle TimesChase Hutchinson The beauty the film brings to life is a gift to be treasured, but it's also a fragile one that can be lost with painful speed. Read
• 7.0 Libertad DigitalJuan Manuel González Its overflowing imagination, the care lavished on its sets and its will to escape the most predictable formulas make up for a good part of its narrative problems. Read
• 6.7 IndiewireDavid Ehrlich The remarkable time and care that went into “Wildwood” doesn't prevent it from being the least enchanting of Laika's films... Read
• 6.3 Associated PressMark Kennedy Wildly industrious, terribly quirky and technically dazzling, “Wildwood” is also overly violent and uses labor-intensive world-building to only slightly tweak fairy tale conventions. Read
• 6.0 The GuardianPeter Bradshaw The stop-motion animation style has, as with Coraline, a robust and pleasing directness... Read
• 5.0 VultureAlison Willmore There's too much here to be effectively explored in a feature, even a 131-minute one whose length is all the more impressive given how arduous stop-motion is as a process. Read
• 5.0 elDiario.esAlberto Corona It is simply that, to be animation's definitive masterpiece (as every meticulously built shot wants to proclaim), magic is as necessary as technique. Read