Laika Studios, the stop-motion animation house renowned for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is preparing to release its most ambitious project to date, Wildwood. Set for a theatrical debut on October 23, the film is based on Colin Meloy's bestselling fantasy novel and follows a young girl named Prue as she ventures into a magical world to rescue her kidnapped brother. Directed by Laika CEO Travis Knight, the movie pushes the art form's limits through meticulous set design, advanced 3D printing, and seamless integration of visual effects.
A Familiar, Yet Magical Setting
Wildwood marks a departure for Laika as it is set in Portland, Oregon, the studio's home base. The production team extensively documented and recreated iconic local landmarks and the city's beloved Forest Park, which forms a significant part of the film's narrative. "I've never worked on a film that takes place where I live," noted Nelson Lowry, Laika's head of production design. The studio recreated sections of Forest Park on raised platforms, extending these physical sets with visual effects to achieve the desired scale and scope. Lowry emphasized a commitment to grounding the fantasy elements, stating, "The act of just walking through the woods is pretty magical. I didn't want to have floating mountains with waterfalls... It keeps it on Earth in some way without being too much fantasy."
Bringing Characters to Life
A standout sequence in Wildwood features Prue riding the massive eagle, the General, voiced by Angela Bassett. Laika crafted three distinct models of the General, including versions optimized for static scenes and dynamic flight. The largest model was mounted on gimbals to simulate flight, with an additional gimbal controlling the camera. Animators meticulously adjusted over 3,000 laser-etched silk feathers on the General to convey speed and movement. Animation supervisor Brad Schiff explained that this level of detail, while not strictly realistic for a bird, was necessary to enhance the sense of scale with Prue aboard.
Animating Prue's hair also presented a challenge. For most of the film, her long hair moves freely, requiring multiple posable strands. For the flight sequence, a simpler solution involving a rotating cylinder for her ponytail was devised to achieve fluid motion that appears natural to the audience.
A Record-Breaking Number of Faces
Laika's pioneering use of 3D printing in stop-motion, a technique first employed in Coraline, allows for an unprecedented range of character expressions. For Wildwood, the studio 3D-printed a record-breaking 140,000 faces, surpassing the 106,000 used in their previous film, Missing Link. Brian McLean, Laika's director of rapid prototyping, stated, "We have not taken our feet off the gas for really pushing this technology." Each faceplate attaches to character models via magnets, and animators painstakingly adjust the eyeballs and eyelids using sharp blades to achieve nuanced performances. Notably, Laika now avoids reusing facial expressions within a single shot, ensuring each moment reflects a character's unique emotional arc.
An Epic Climax
The film culminates in a large-scale battle involving multiple factions, including an army of coyote soldiers. Laika constructed five distinct sets for this sequence and developed miniature trebuchets that launch CGI lava-filled cannonballs. Over 3,000 characters participate in the battle, a mix of practical puppets and digital doubles, reminiscent of the epic battles in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lowry commented on the seamless integration of practical effects and VFX, calling it "the holy grail of digital work."
