Wendell & Wild

Henry Selick's welcome return to direction is expectedly visually splendorous. Though a lot more rudimentary in it's appearance than Coraline, Wendell & Wild is brimming with life in the design of every one of its memorable characters and sets.

The unique style and quirky designs add a great deal of vibrancy to the many, many creative ideas present in the story. It makes for a gleefully bizarre, oddly captivating experience. I can see this becoming a cult classic like some of Selick's other stop-motion animated films.

I thought the characters all had more than sufficient unique personality to keep the film effortlessly watchable and engaging.

But there is WAY too much going on here. And I'm starting to see this as a trend in screenplays involving Jordan Peele, as Nope had the same problem earlier this year.

Wendell and Wild as characters are actually barely in this movie, and they are woefully underdeveloped, given the bare minimum of motivations and rushed, shallow character growth. And it's because the writers felt the need to make room for a plethora of other characters and story beats that are never given their time to become impactful.

Kat has an "overcoming trauma" arc that is simplistically glossed over in one scene, and she has magical powers that are introduced with almost no build-up.

Some generically-written friends of Kat's are given even less development and some scenes try to highlight them only to have little to no impact on the story.

I could go on, but I'll lastly mention that there are way too many antagonist characters, and because there's no time to focus on them, they're disappointingly simplistic and cartoonish, and it results in the story's themes being delivered in such an on-the-nose manner that the film's conclusion is unfortunately disappointing.

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.

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.

As a fan of stop-motion animation as well as Keegan Michael-Keys and Jordan Peeles electric chemistry I was greatly anticipating this film when it was announced.

However I was overhyped for its release. The only aspect that is truly outstanding about this movie is stop motion animation.

The story is chaotic and introduces lore without a hint of context. The finale? Condensed. The solutions? Convenient. And for a movie called "Wendell & Wild" the title characters do not get as much screen time as you might imagine. Which is a shame because Key and Peeles voice delivery is stellar.

As a movie? It's middle of the road. As a stop motion movie? It's kinda bad.

Very little charm, not scary or creepy, and lacking any heart. This was wholly disappointing. I had trouble connecting with any of the characters, although I tried my best to! Kat, the movie's protagonist and an orphan, should've been SO much more sympathetic than she was. Even the titular characters Wendall & Wild were pretty one-dimensional.

The story lines also felt very jarring and disjointed. The only thing keeping me engaged was the stop motion and the occasional laugh, but even that wasn't enough to make me care. There's something seriously wrong with this movie. It should've been amazing, but ultimately, there's no magic to be had here.