Laika Studios’ “Wildwood” turns Portland, Oregon, and a fantastical wilderness into a handcrafted stop-motion spectacle—an ambitious production 16 years in the making.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Laika Studios’ latest animated feature, “Wildwood,” is earning praise as a cinematic tribute to the Pacific Northwest. Created in the Portland studio frame by frame, the film showcases the painstaking artistry that defines stop-motion animation.
The movie premiered Friday after a production that stretched across 16 years. During that time, animators often captured only a few seconds of finished footage in an entire week.
“I think stop-motion, more than any other form of filmmaking, is an art form that leaves its fingerprints on the final product,” director Travis Knight said.
Those marks of human craftsmanship are visible throughout “Wildwood.” The story travels from Portland’s recognizable streets into an enchanted, seemingly unreachable forest populated by talking animals, peculiar personalities and sweeping battles. Local landmarks—including Pittock Mansion—are reimagined as elements of a magical world.
Adapted from the book by Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy, “Wildwood” centers on Prue McKeel, a young girl who enters an impassable wilderness after her baby brother is abducted.
Peyton Elizabeth Lee, the voice of Prue, said seeing Laika’s operation in person was overwhelming.
“The story is so large, but it’s just a whole different thing when you really come here and see hundreds of artists working on these little kitchens and forest-scapes, and then you see these handcrafted sets of Portland, Oregon, next to these insane magical battlefields. It just took my breath away,” Lee said.
Lead stop-motion animator Rachelle Lambden said the production advances the medium, particularly in the complexity of its performances.
“It’s an enormous endeavor because we’ve never really seen acting to this level in stop-motion before,” Lambden said.
Brad Schiff, Laika’s head of animation, emphasized that the emotional performances begin with the artists manipulating the puppets.
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“That’s what the animators are doing. They’re acting. All the emotion that you’re getting, every bit of life you’re seeing has been given to that puppet from an animator,” Schiff said.
The studio also relied on 3D printing to tackle technical hurdles, said Brian McLean, Laika’s director of rapid prototyping.
“We were able to achieve translucent tears that would well up on a character’s replacement face and then animate down their cheek,” McLean said. “I think on ‘Coraline,’ when we first started this technique, we made about 20,000 faces. On Wildwood, we’re over 142,000 faces.”
Knight said the film’s lengthy production reflects the demanding nature of stop-motion.
“Stop-motion is the worst way there is to make a movie. It’s not easy. It’s not fast,” Knight said.
Angela Bassett, who voices The General, said the finished film celebrates what artists can accomplish through imagination and persistence.
“To see that is just to be a witness to how creative and imaginative and marvelous we are,” Bassett said.
Fans gathered outside theaters Friday for screenings of the new film.
“We wanted to be the first; we love LAIKA,” Portland residents Kiyah Dulaney and Christian Richmond told KGW. “I just love clay animation and stop-motion. It’s such a beautiful art form. With AI and everything booming right now, it’s so good that people are still making art and doing this.”
“Wildwood” is rated PG-13 for some scenes that might upset younger viewers. Saint Bryan caught an early screening and says it’s a tremendous technical achievement, and the first 10 minutes are a loving valentine to Portland and the Pacific Northwest.