Wendell et Wild

The idea of Key&Peele as stop-motion characters was enough to draw me in, the problem with the movie is they're not the main characters even though the title says Wendell & Wild, the main character is the school girl Kat, and because her life's trauma left her cold, she hard to like, the animation has high production value, it looks good, but the story is about too many different things, and the title characters fade into the background, Kat is supposed to be some kind of hell something lol, and her mentor played by Angela Bassett has the same powers but it's not fleshed out enough to understand what the purpose of those powers are, overall a cute Halloween movie for a family to watch, parents turn off your brain and let the kids enjoy the animation.

Henry Sellick's first stop-motion animated film since 2009's beloved Coraline, Wendell & Wild melds beautiful artistry and a very funny script co-written by Jordan Peele.

The plot follows Kat, a young orphan shipped off to a private Catholic school for troubled girls, struggling with guilt over her perceived responsibility for her parents' tragic deaths. She also happens to be a Hellmaiden, able to summon the roguish demon brothers Wendell & Wild (played hilariously and to pitch perfection by comedy duo Key & Peele). They arrive in the land of the living to try and set up their lifelong dream project of running their own demonic funfair. Much chaos ensues.

I went in a bit blind on the story and wasn't sure what to expect, but Wendell & Wild might be the best stop motion film made since Coraline, or possibly just barely edging past it. Kat is a terrific protagonist, bucking trends and delivering more personality than all of LAIKA animation's somewhat milquetoast leads put together. There's a lot of artistic inventiveness on display, and the script is (for the most part) incredibly strong.

The film has only a couple downsides, which were a bit baffling considering the quality of the rest. Some of the scenes were a bit muddled, with events only making sense long after the fact (a particular sequence with an octopus and a glowing drawer left me scratching my head). The final act, while lots of fun, also feels like it's hastily wrapping up as much as it can in too short a time, with the credits rolling only moments after a bombastic finale - when it really, really could have used a couple more minutes to wind down with a nice epilogue.

This is a film that giddily enjoys keeping way more plates in the air than most films can get away with, and it results in a somewhat messy structure that makes it hard to tell who the main antagonist even is at any given moment, which seems to shift around wildly from scene to scene, from a gigantic Satan-like figure, to a pair of corrupt businessmen, to the titular brothers themselves, to a personal struggle against inner demons - before finally picking a clear lane in the last act. You just never know what direction the story is going to zig and zag to next, which is ultimately more of a strength than a weakness. Wendell & Wild is just as much a supernatural mystery film as it is an adventure/comedy, so viewers should be prepared to do a bit of sleuthing and not have anything spoon-fed.

This is not exactly a film for young kids, sporting heavy themes and a few dark moments, but it isn't that much scarier than Laika films like ParaNorman or Kubo and the Two Strings, only barely earning its PG-13 rating. Any kid that can handle The Nightmare Before Christmas (also directed by Sellick) should be OK with this.

Even with a few nitpicks holding it back, I give this film an easy 8/10. If you're an animation fan, you owe it to yourself to check this out... it's one of the most delightful and creative films in the entire stop-motion medium.

I usually love Henry Selick's work. In fact the Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline are two of my favourite movies. But this just didn't hit the mark.

There was far too much going on, and many of the additional story points feel unnecessary, which ultimately ends up taking away from the quality of a film that could've been great, but really wasn't.

This film would've been so much better if the story was simplified and streamlined a bit.

Pretty disappointing overall.

The animation style was nice though, although not my favourite of his work, and it was nice to have diversity in the characters.

'Wendell & Wild (2022)' is adaptation of Henry Selick's own book about a troubled girl who meets her demons shortly after being enrolled at an all-girls catholic school in her home town. It's the director's first film since his much-loved classic, 'Coraline (2009)', and it features many of the hallmarks of his delightfully macabre style. Teaming up with Jordan Peele (who takes on co-writing, producing and acting as the titular Wild) seems like a match made in heaven - or, perhaps, hell - and a lot of the movie lives up to that potential. However, ultimately it's one of the weaker entries in either filmmakers' filmographies because it simply can't get a handle on what it wants to be. Straight away, something seems off with the pacing. The editing is very elliptical, even in the most straight-forward sequences, and the overarching structure is very unfocused. The piece bounces around between its various elements, never quite coming together as a cohesive whole. These elements are mostly excellent in isolation, but the fact that they never quite gel leads to an experience that's difficult to get fully immersed in. The flick deals with a lot of interesting ideas, touching on themes of family and guilt while commenting on important societal issues such as the prison-industrial complex, and it's also awash in positive representation (even though I could have done without the deadnaming of one of its characters). It's a bit heavy-handed, sure, but it mostly works and actively enhances the narrative. It's a shame that these subtextual, and even textual, aspects get a bit lost in the overall muddled nature of the affair. There are, I suppose, too many for any one of them to be fully fleshed out, leading to moments in which certain things pop up and affect the plot - despite never having been set-up properly - and then fizzle away just as quickly as they appeared. Despite its issues, though, the film is enjoyable throughout. Its aesthetic is distinct and and appealing, with its fluid animation combining with its colourful characters to bring its gleefully grotesque world to life. It has a tangible vibe to it, which is one of its most valuable assets. Regardless of how messy its story is, it's undeniably entertaining, and it conveys several good messages that are as expected as they are necessary. It often deals with familiar elements in an unfamiliar way, at its best when playing with its more subversive scenarios. The picture is a solid effort, even though it certainly has a few narrative issues. If it were more focused, it could have been great. Still, it's a good time overall.

From the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas & Coraline, Wendell & Wild is yet another stop-motion animation offering that brims with originality, creativity & imagination and packs a thematically-rich premise overflowing with ideas but the film as a whole still required more fine-tuning with the script, for the messy structure & muddled storytelling only brings the ride down.

Co-written by Jordan Peele & directed by Henry Selick, the story addresses guilt, trauma, loss, death, resurrection & even prison-industrial complex through its 13-year old protagonist but it fails to properly juggle the various subplots that are unfolding all at once and lacks a firm grip necessary to keep the drama riveting. It tries to tackle too many things & overstuffs the plot in the process.

The stop-motion craftsmanship on display remains top-notch from the get-go and the world it renders on screen has the director's macabre feel to it. Also uplifting the animation wizardry is the excellent use of camera, colour & lighting. Editing however is a mixed bag, for the narrative flow is a bit inconsistent and never truly gathers momentum. Voice acting is fine but the drama isn't compelling enough.

Overall, Wendell & Wild begins on a promising note and is admirable for its ambitious attempt but it needed a more tightly-knitted plot, polished script & better balance between its multiple plot lines to deliver the desired goods. The hand-crafted magic is commendable no doubt but it's the convoluted writing that hinders the film from realising its full potential. In short, Selick's latest is no match to his finest efforts.