This is the sixth feature from Laika, LLC, the independent, stop-motion film company. Laika's films tend to be dark fantasies or horror-inspired romps. Each of the previous five films have all been nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. This one will likely get a nomination in that category as well. This is the second Laika major, motion picture, directed by Travis Knight. Knight owns the company and has produced most of the other films, but he started out as an animator. He has directed two live-action features, that of Bumblebee (2018) and Masters of the Universe (2026). Both those films were the brainchild of toy companies, Hasbro and Mattel respectively. Stop-motion animation could be fundamentally seen as bringing toys or small figurines to life. Knight principally has worked as a stop-motion animator for the better part of two decades, so Hasbro and Mattel hiring him to bring their toys to life absolutely makes sense. There's an implication that his films therefore are targeted toward children, particularly his live-action films because they're literally based on children's toys.
Laika's features often have their protagonists as children or young teenagers. Arguably, all of Laika's films have been appropriate for children. All of them have been rated PG. This is perhaps the first Laika film that has been rated PG-13, which isn't a huge jump, and I wouldn't contend that this film is any less family-friendly or wildly divergent from Laika's previous works. However, I would take a stand that this film is more mature and deals with more grown-up things in a more explicit way. There is of course comedy in all of Laika's films. This one is less silly or goofy than some of Laika's previous. There is a creepiness and dread, as well as serious, psychological horror, nothing too over the top, but something that I haven't necessarily felt from Laika since its debut, Coraline (2009), which still stands as the company's most successful film in the box office.
Peyton Elizabeth Lee (Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. and Andi Mack) stars as the voice of Prue Mckeel, a teenage girl living in Portland, Oregon. She's not really the nerdy type. She's more outdoorsy. She likes to ride her bike. She also has an ironic sense where she's more mature and not necessarily into childish things like believing in myths and magic. She's also more of a pragmatic person but also a brave person, not afraid of much. When her parents tell her that she's not allowed to take her baby brother outside, she doesn't listen. She doesn't see the danger of going outside but only because her parents don't tell her all of the dangers. She takes her baby brother, Mac, out on the streets of Portland.
Unfortunately, when Prue and Mac stop at a playground, a murder of crows swarm the place and abduct Mac, swooping down and carrying him away. At first, it's like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) that then becomes a scene from Jim Henson's Labyrinth (1986). If anyone remembers that 1986 cult classic, it's about a teenage girl whose baby brother is kidnapped, and it's about that teenage girl having to enter a magical land to rescue him. That's exactly what happens here. Prue has to enter a magical land to save Mac. At first, it doesn't seem like a magical place. It just seems like a large forest or wilderness that's typical of Oregon. When she steps into it though, it becomes this incredible place that's as inventive and creative as the equivalent places in The Wizard of Oz (1939) or The NeverEnding Story (1984). Recently, Pixar's Hoppers (2026) presented a world of various animal kingdoms. Knight's film here also presents a world of various animal kingdoms anthropomorphized, but his take is so distinct that it almost felt fresh an idea, even though animated films are ripe with talking animals who act human. Knight's take is that these animals operate in a bureaucratic way, almost as if he's tipping toward Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985).
Jacob Tremblay (The Little Mermaid and Luca) co-stars as the voice of Curtis Mehlberg, the total opposite of Prue in personality and presence. He's the total nerd. He's not as outdoorsy. He's more likely to stay inside and play video games or board games. He's not as brave. He's not as willing to go into the wilderness, but he cares about Prue, so he'll follow her anywhere. He'll also do everything he can to help her. He possibly has a crush. As dark as it might seem, Curtis goes on an arc that's similar to the child in Beasts of No Nation (2015) where he gets pulled into a war that is discovered inside the wilderness. As a child, he has to face and confront the horrors of war but also find his strength and bravery in order to survive it. The war stuff could be compared to what we got in James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash (2022), but there's a brutality here that feels even harsher than what Cameron was doing.
Carey Mulligan (Maestro and Promising Young Woman) also co-stars as the voice of Alexandra, the dowager governess. She's a dowager because her husband died. She's a governess, meaning that she's the ruler of a certain section of the wilderness. She's the leader of that part of the land. She might be able to pull off a soft and charming demeanor, but it's quickly made clear that she's the villain of this story. She's the brutal warlord who forces Curtis into her army, even as a child soldier. If that wasn't bad enough, we see how she wages war and we see the literal death and destruction that lies in her wake. She might be the greatest female villain ever depicted in an animated feature that I can remember. However, when it's revealed why she's doing what she's doing, it's due to a horrible and rather cruel thing that was done to her. What happened to her was awful but it wasn't any one person's fault. Yet, she feels the need to lash out at everyone else.
The comparison that come to mind was the titular villain of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). The White Witch from that film is probably the closest in terms of how terrifying a villain Alexandra is here. I would argue that Alexandra is even scarier. The White Witch was just a power hungry despot. Here, Alexandra is something that perhaps is even more dangerous, a grieving mother who wants nothing more than to have her child back and will stop at nothing to accomplish it. She's not the only parent though to make mistakes and go to extremes. There are elders who make a Rumpelstiltskin type deal in order to get what they want, which only leaves a mess for the next generation to clean up.
Mahershala Ali (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1) rounds out the cast as the voice of Brendan, the Bandit King. He's the leader of the marauders who are fighting back against Alexandra and her armed forces. They're of course demonized and made to seem like ruffians when the true ruffians might be Alexandra and her soldiers. Brendan and his people have been the oppressed, and they're simply defending what's been taken from them. The film doesn't delve too far, but there is dialogue about how Alexandra took land from the bandits. Brendan and his people can be representative of Indigenous people who have had their lands invaded and colonized. This is only one in a rich tapestry that Knight and his team at Laika have weaved. It's beautiful. It's thrilling. It's terrifying, and more importantly it's full.
Rated PG-13 for fantasy violence, bloody images, suicide, brief partial nudity, and language.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 12 mins.
In theaters.
