Is the Wildwood Movie Kid Friendly? I Saw It 4 Days Early at a Sold-Out Fan Screening (9.5/10, No Spoilers)
Is the Wildwood movie kid friendly? Not for little kids, even though it looks like a cute puppet movie. It’s rated PG-13, and my age-by-age take is below. As a dog lover, I also kept track of what animals are in Wildwood and whether any of them get hurt. Short version on that one: almost the whole supporting cast is animals, from a swarm of crows to coyote soldiers in uniform.
I saw Wildwood at a fan first screening on October 19, four days before it opens in theaters on October 23. I almost never watch animated movies, so I walked in expecting something cute and a little childish. I walked out giving it 9.5 out of 10.
No spoilers here. I won’t tell you how it ends or who makes it through. Just the stuff I’d want to know before buying a ticket.
| In theaters | October 23, 2026 (I saw a fan first screening on October 19) |
| Where to watch | In theaters starting October 23 |
| Studio | Laika (Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings) |
| Director | Travis Knight |
| Voice cast | Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Charlie Day |
| Based on | Wildwood (2011), a novel by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis |
| Genre | Stop-motion animated fantasy adventure |
| Runtime | About 2 hr 10 min by my watch (my AMC ticket listed 2 hr 15 min) |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Animals | Crows, a golden eagle, an owl, coyote soldiers, a rat, hyenas, rabbits, bears, a bulldog-type dog and more |
| Do animals get hurt? | Yes, animal characters are in danger, and some fights get rough |
| Kid friendly? | Not for little kids. My take: 13 and up, 10 to 12 is a parent’s call |
| Scare level | 2 / 5 (about 3 jump scares, not horror) |
| Post-credits scene | Not confirmed yet (I’ll update this) |
| My verdict | 9.5 / 10, worth the big screen |
| Best for / Good to know | Best for animal lovers, teens, adults and anyone curious about stop-motion. Good to know: it’s rated PG-13, so it fits best for 10 and up |
What Is Wildwood About? (No Spoilers)
Wildwood follows Prue McKeel, a teenager whose baby brother, Mac, gets carried off by a swarm of crows. She chases them into a hidden forest near Portland, with her classmate Curtis tagging along, and finds a whole world of talking animals, bandits and powerful figures getting ready for a war.
That’s all I’ll say about the plot.
It’s directed by Travis Knight, who also directed Kubo and the Two Strings and runs Laika, the studio that made it. Chris Butler wrote the screenplay.
The voice cast is stacked. Peyton Elizabeth Lee voices Prue, Jacob Tremblay voices Curtis, and you’ll also hear Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Charlie Day, Jake Johnson, Richard E. Grant and Tom Waits.
Wildwood Parents Guide: Is the Wildwood Movie Kid Friendly?
Not for little kids. Here’s the official reason for the PG-13, straight from the MPA rating: “strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide related material, brief partial nudity and language” (source). It’s also Laika’s first PG-13 movie.
What I noticed myself: there’s some swearing, some violence and some blood. Because it’s animated, none of it felt gross or graphic to me.
But animated doesn’t mean it was made for kids. Honestly, I went in assuming this was a kids’ movie too. The rating reasons above are exactly what I’d want to know as a parent before buying tickets, especially the suicide-related material, which is not something you’d expect from a puppet movie.
Here’s how I’d split it:
- Under 10: I’d wait a couple of years.
- 10 to 12: Parent’s call. Read the rating reasons first, and think about how your kid handles dark stories and animals in danger.
- 13 and up: Go for it.
And for what it’s worth, the crowd at my sold-out screening was mostly adults.
What Animals Are in Wildwood? My Animal Guide
There are so many kinds of animals in this movie that I honestly lost count. Here’s what’s confirmed by the cast list and early reviews, plus what I spotted myself in the theater:
- Crows: a huge swarm of them, and they kick off the whole story by taking Prue’s baby brother.
- The General: a giant golden eagle who leads the birds, voiced by Angela Bassett.
- Owl Rex: an enormous owl, voiced by Richard E. Grant.
- Coyotes: lots of them, in uniforms and carrying muskets. Dmitri is voiced by Charlie Day, and Maksim, a coyote foot soldier, is voiced by Tom Waits.
- Septima: a little rat, voiced by Awkwafina.
- Hyenas: a whole troop of them in military-style uniforms.
- Rabbits: including one wearing a colander on its head.
- Bears
- All kinds of birds: Prue ends up with a lot of bird allies.
- A dog: a tough, mean-looking bulldog type.
- Sheep and pigs: they pop up briefly in the background, almost like extras.
Two of the biggest animal characters have voices you’ll probably recognize. Angela Bassett voices The General, the golden eagle who leads the birds.
And Charlie Day voices Dmitri, one of the coyotes, so you’ll hear a familiar voice coming out of a uniformed coyote.
Do the Animals Get Hurt in Wildwood?
Yes, they do, and I’m keeping the details vague on purpose because they’d spoil the story. This is a war story where most of the characters are animals, and the movie is rated PG-13 for strong fantasy violence and bloody images. Animal characters are in danger more than once, and some of the fights get rough.
I live with three small dogs, including our 14-year-old girl (here’s what she eats every day), so I always notice this stuff. If you’re someone who really can’t handle animals getting hurt on screen, I’d still say it’s worth seeing, but go in prepared and know that it’s not a gentle talking-animal movie.
Is the Wildwood Movie Scary? Jump Scares and Scare Level
A little. Scary moments come up now and then, and I counted about three jump scares, the kind where something suddenly pops out and you flinch in your seat.
It’s nowhere near horror, though. I don’t watch horror at all, and I never felt like I couldn’t keep watching. On my scale, that’s a 2 out of 5: a few jumps that won’t follow you home.
The heavier part isn’t the jump scares. It’s the tone. This is a darker fairy tale than the poster makes it look, and it gets heavy right from the start. That’s the main thing to know if you’re bringing kids.
Is Wildwood a Good Movie? My 9.5/10 Score
Yes. On my scale, 9 and up means a movie is worth full price, and Wildwood got there easily.
The biggest reason is the story. It’s solid, and it actually goes somewhere. It’s a long movie, and I wasn’t bored for a single minute of it.
The second reason is how much feeling the puppets carry. The faces, the small expressions and the dialogue work together so well that the cute, slightly goofy look of the characters stops mattering. And the sheer number of different animals is a big part of the fun.
The only heads-up I’d give is that it’s long and it’s dark. That doesn’t hurt the movie for me, but it matters a lot if you’re bringing kids.
Is Wildwood Stop-Motion? What That Means
Yes. Wildwood is animated, but it’s not the computer-animated kind most of us picture. It’s stop-motion. That means real puppets on real miniature sets, photographed one frame at a time. Between every single shot, an animator moves the puppet just a tiny bit. Play all of those photos back at 24 frames per second, and the puppets walk, talk, fly and cry.
To give you a sense of the scale, Wildwood used 231 puppets and 136 sets, according to Wikipedia, which also lists it as the longest stop-motion animated film by runtime.
If you’ve seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, you’ve already seen stop-motion. I went to the 3D re-release a couple of weeks ago, and you can read my Nightmare Before Christmas 3D review here. Same basic technique, just from 1993.
Here’s the part I really want to say, though. I assumed a puppet movie would feel childish. The characters do look cute and a little goofy, and honestly, that’s the only childish thing about it. Once the story, the facial expressions and the dialogue all come together, the childish feeling is completely gone. If you’ve been skipping animated movies because you think they’re just for kids, this is the one that changed my mind.
Who Made Wildwood? Laika, the Studio Behind Coraline
Wildwood comes from Laika, a stop-motion studio in Hillsboro, Oregon, just outside Portland. If you don’t know the name, you probably know their movies:
| Laika movie | Year | Awards highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Coraline | 2009 | Oscar nominee, Best Animated Feature |
| ParaNorman | 2012 | Oscar nominee, Best Animated Feature |
| The Boxtrolls | 2014 | Oscar nominee, Best Animated Feature |
| Kubo and the Two Strings | 2016 | Oscar nominee, won the BAFTA for Best Animated Film |
| Missing Link | 2019 | Oscar nominee, won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature |
| Wildwood | 2026 | Laika’s sixth feature and its first PG-13 |
Every single one of their first five movies was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. That’s a pretty amazing track record for a studio that makes everything by hand. Kubo and the Two Strings even got an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, which made it only the second animated movie ever to do that. The first one? The Nightmare Before Christmas.
A couple of fun facts about Laika: the studio is owned by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, and Wildwood’s director, Travis Knight, is his son. He’s Laika’s president and CEO, and he started out at the studio as an animator. And Coraline was directed by Henry Selick, the same director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is a fun connection if you’ve seen both.
Is Wildwood Based on a Book?
Yes. The movie is based on Wildwood, a 2011 fantasy novel by Colin Meloy, the lead singer of the indie folk-rock band The Decemberists. His wife, Carson Ellis, did the illustrations, 85 of them, plus the cover.
A few things worth knowing about the book:
- It’s a trilogy. Wildwood (2011) is the first of The Wildwood Chronicles, followed by Under Wildwood (2012) and Wildwood Imperium (2014).
- It’s long. The first hardcover runs 541 pages.
- It’s set in a real place. The story starts in Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood and crosses into the “Impassable Wilderness,” a fantasy version of Portland’s Forest Park.
- The book is pitched younger than the movie. The publisher recommends it for ages 9 and up, while the movie is rated PG-13. So don’t assume that if your kid read the book, the movie will feel the same.
- Laika has wanted this one for a long time. The studio optioned the book in 2011, the same year it came out, and the movie was announced in 2021.
How I Saw It: A Sold-Out Fan Screening in Dolby Cinema
I watched it with my AMC Stubs A-List at a “Wildwood Fan First Screening,” a 7:00 PM early showing in a Dolby Cinema auditorium.
The room was completely full. I mean every single seat, from the front rows where you have to tilt your head way back, all the way to the very last row, which is where I sat. I honestly didn’t expect a stop-motion movie to pack a theater like that. I also expected a crowd of parents with little kids, and it looked like there were more adults than kids.
The sign at the Dolby entrance had the fan screening listed right on it, with the 7:00 PM start.
How Long Is Wildwood? Runtime and Showtime Tips
By my watch, the movie itself ran about 2 hours 10 minutes. My AMC ticket listed 2 hours 15 minutes, and other listings I’ve seen go up to about 2 hours 20 minutes, so plan on a little over two hours either way.
One more tip: the AMC app says the movie starts 25 to 30 minutes after the listed showtime, because the trailers and ads come first. So for a 7:00 PM showing, the movie itself starts around 7:25 to 7:30, and you’re looking at roughly 9:40 before the credits roll. Plan your bathroom break and your babysitter accordingly.
Does Wildwood Have a Post-Credits Scene?
I can’t tell you for sure yet. I didn’t confirm whether anything plays after the credits, and none of the early reviews I read mention a post-credits scene either. I’ll update this section as soon as I know. If you stay all the way through the credits, please tell me in the comments.
Who Should See Wildwood
See it if:
- You love animals on screen, and lots of them
- You love big fantasy adventures with a real story
- You’ve never seen a stop-motion movie and you’re curious
- You think animated movies are only for kids (this is the one to prove you wrong)
In the mood for something real after all that fantasy? I just saw Everest: The Other Side, a PG-13 documentary about skiing down the world’s highest mountain, in IMAX on opening night. Here’s my Everest: The Other Side review, with the age I’d pick and where the heavy parts are.
Watch the Wildwood Trailer
Here’s the official trailer from LAIKA Studios, so you can see the stop-motion look for yourself before you go.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you only remember two things, make it these. If animals in danger are hard for you, know going in that this is a war story with a mostly animal cast. And read the PG-13 reasons before you bring anyone under 13, because this one is much darker than the cute puppets make it look.
Have you seen it yet, or are you a longtime Laika fan? Tell me in the comments which stop-motion movie I should watch next. And if you want another movie with the same scare level, here’s my Whalefall review, which I also rated 2 out of 5. And for a grown-ups-only movie night, my Wicker review covers a rated R dark fairy tale that’s also a 2 out of 5 on my scare scale. If you’re more in the mood for giant monsters, my Godzilla Minus Zero parents guide explains why the first R-rated Godzilla got that rating. And if you’d rather stay home with a gentler dog movie, my A Dog’s Perfect Christmas parents guide covers the new Netflix holiday movie, which is a 0 out of 5 on my scare scale.
About me: I’m Emily. My AMC A-List lets me see up to four movies a week, I almost always go solo, and I write each review the same night. Thrillers yes, horror never. I always read up on a movie before I go, and I share that homework here too. See all my Movie Nights reviews.
Got dogs at home, too? Here’s how big maltipoos get, based on our own maltipoo boy, and what it’s really like tent camping with dogs. And every movie I’ve reviewed this year is in My 2026 Movie Log.
