Wildwood

Yesterday, I took myself out to see Wildwood, a film adaptation of Colin Meloy's young adult novel by the same name, which unsurprisingly ends with a song that Meloy wrote and performed with his band, the Decembrists. It was one of the things I expected from this movie. What I maybe didn't expect, and this is probably down to the fact that it's been 12 years since I read the book, is how grown-up it is. With a blend of stop-motion animation (from Laika, the studio that made Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings) and digital effects, it has an amazing PG-13 rating.

Remember how The Black Cauldron blew everyone's minds by being the first PG-rated Disney animated feature? This is next-level. Its main characters are kids, but it is aimed at an audience of teens and adults, complete with violent battle scenes, dark magic, mature themes and mildly salty language (such as "hell" and "son of a bitch"). But it's also one of the most visually stunning, original and way-out-there different animated movies that have rocked up in recent years. Like, on the level of (draws a reverent breath) Ron's Gone Wrong, The Wild Robot or Into the Spiderverse. Not your paint-by-numbers Disney princess fairy tale. A grim, heart-string-pulling, thought-provoking fantasy that tips over the edge of a present-day urban landscape (Portland, Oregon) into an "impassible wilderness" on the other side of a railway bridge – a wilderness that has been purposely and magically made impassible to "outsiders" like Prue and her not-by-choice best friend, Curtis.

They have to go there because, in Prue's case, a murder of crows has swooped down and kidnapped her toddler brother, Mac, and in Curtis' case, because he gets dragged along by accident and there's no turning back now. The pair is soon separated, and the different routes they take through the Wildwood before they reunite has fateful results. He gets recruited into the all-coyote army of an evil witch known as the Dowager Governess, and later finds himself imprisoned alongside a band of bandits who have been fighting to protect their ancestral homeland. She stages her own escape from another type of prison, passing through many perils before they meet again on a horrific battlefield. And it all comes down to preventing the evil governess from using Mac's blood to perform an awful spell that endangers the lives of everyone in the Wildwood.

I've spotted some reviews whose headlines or thumbnails suggest that this is a "meh" movie despite its powerful imagery and fantastic potential. I don't see anything "meh" about it. It's breathtaking, full stop. And before I do it, and you, the disservice of over-synopsizing it, let me struggle mightily to reduce the many Scenes That Made It For Me to just three: (1) The prodigal coyote returns to his pack, feigning injury at the hands of the awful bandits and wailing that he has been shot, stabbed and forced to listen to their folk songs. Oh, the folk songs! (2) Stretching the definition of "scene," the character arc between Curtis and Septima the rat – a relationship that develops from Curtis dry-heaving at the sight of the self-admitted vermin to his heartbreaking grief at the end. I particularly got a kick out of Septima, literally swimming in Curtis' soup, asking if he wants any and the boy's reply – roughly, "No thanks, I just stood in some food." (3) Prue's shocking change of perspective when her parents explain to her that they, not she, are at fault for the crows getting Mac. Her eccentric folks made a pretty dark bargain in order to have kids. How dark? Consider the dad's reaction upon recognizing Satanic symbols on the tent of the specialist-of-last-resort – not good! – and she only gives them a referral. The really dark bit happens after that.

Let's talk cast. Nerdy young Curtis is played by Jacob Tremblay, who was nominated for an Oscar at age 9 for his role in Room. Leading the film as Prue is Peyton Elizabeth Lee of Andi Mack and other Disney productions. As the Dowager Governess we have BAFTA winner and Oscar-nominee Carey Mulligan (An Education). Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali (The Green Book) plays the bandit king. Richard E. Grant (Oscar-nominated for Can You Ever Forgive Me?) plays a royal owl. Two-time Oscar nominee Angela Bassett is the General, an enormous golden eagle who takes Prue on a spectacular flight. Awkwafina (Golden Globe winner for The Farewell) voices Septima. Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) plays the coyote with an aversion to folk music. Jake Johnson, who played Peter B. Parker in the Spiderverse films, is Prue's dad. Len Cariou of Blue Bloods plays the postman who gives Prue a lift. Blythe Danner plays the wicked witch who puts Prue's parents on a tragic collision course with the dowager governess. Other cast members include singer Tom Waits, Amandla Stenberg of the Hunger Games films, Rob Delaney ("Peter Wisdom" in the Deadpool movies), Marc Evan Jackson of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Recreation and Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords (the band and the TV series). There are a lot of characters in the movie, and quite a few of them get a chance to make a real impression.