Wendell and Wild (2022) is the newest gothic horror film, marking the return of Henry Selick, director of stop-motion marvels such as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), and Coraline (2009).  After a lengthy thirteen-year hiatus, Selick also enlists the help of horror director Jordan Peele as a co-writer and voice actor. Selick succeeds in crafting another beautifully macabre triumph for stop-motion animation, set with booger sculptures, scream faires, and a creepy graveyard; it also reunites popular comedy duo ‘Key and Peele’ as the very lovable demon brothers, Wendell and Wild. While this combination appears to be the perfect recipe for an instant classic, the film and its messaging fall a little flat.

The film follows Katherine “Kat” Koniqua Elliot navigating guilt and shame five years after an accident leads to her parents’ death. She returns to her hometown of Rust Bank after some time in juvie to find that an unusual fire has burned down her family’s brewery and that the now decaying town has been taken over by the rapacious Klax Korp, seeking to build a profitable private prison. Our punk-loving heroine is placed in an all-girls Catholic school run by Father Bests (James Hong) where she meets fellow “Hell Maiden” Sister Helley (Angela Bassett). Plagued by self-imposed blame, she summons Wendell and Wild and swears to obey their orders for eternity, as long as they bring her parents back from the dead. 

In a world where fantasy and reality are meant to be blended by CGI, it is extremely refreshing to see works of art crafted to be unsettlingly cartoonish and to look handmade. Each character has a variety of dynamic and unique expressions enabled by the technique of replacement animation, where the face of a character’s model is split down the middle into interchangeable pieces. One can even see the lines on the characters’ faces where a 3D replacement piece would fit, a conscious choice by Selick to create interesting geometric shapes that add to the eerie aesthetic as well as highlight the use of stop-motion animation. A type of non-toxic liquid plastic known as museum gel allowed for crude scenes like the tick being squashed again and again and mucousy booger sculptures to stand out by being disgustingly, horrifically wet. Ghost soul silhouettes, and shadow imagery were created with a small dose of CGI and actual paper cutouts for an intriguing blend of dimensions that makes Wendell and Wild’s animation even more unique. 

Another notable aspect separating Selick’s Wendell and Wild from other stop-motion projects such as Corpse Bride (2005) or Frakenweenie (2012) is, at long last, a diverse set of characters. Well-known filmmaker Tim Burton sparked much controversy after stating he didn’t have diversity in his films because “things either call for things, or they don’t” (a terrible sentiment). Rarely does mainstream animation targeted at a more adult audience have a majority POC cast, let alone one with multiple black and Asian people, a trans-Hispanic boy, a disabled man, a Native American woman, and a black girl as the main character. The different hair textures and styles were beautiful to see, especially because it was obvious how much thought and creativity were present. No hairstyle is exactly like the other, even down to the beards (Kat’s father vs Wild). Kat’s hair in particular has very natural movement and body to it, so much so that it looks real; there’s also a scene showing her hair wrapped in a scarf at night to protect it. It’s the little details that can add a great amount of depth and dimension to humanize these characters.

However, Wendell and Wild suffers from pacing issues and a bloated screenplay that cannot be unacknowledged. We’re given a lot of different ideas at the same time, causing a few threads to be left strewn about. For example, Sister Helley is also a Hell Maiden that can turn into smoke and travel like a snake and had a secret past where she summoned a bunch of demons that happened to be Wendell’s and Wild’s long lost siblings for Manberg to collect in jars with his powerful vacuum. That’s a lot to unpack in addition to dead political figures and brewery fire victims and parents coming back to life via underworld hair cream used to regrow hair on the demon father of Wendell and Wild that also has a scream faire built on his belly for damned souls to visit. These backstory details are crammed in through dialogue, which left some characters feeling underdeveloped. The plot loses its momentum the most with a repetitive third act when the characters have to fight off Belzer and have an emotional moment, and then fight off Klux Korp and have an emotional moment again, causing the emotional moments to be less impactful (thus the message is also less impactful). This is not helped at all by monotonous voice performances, particularly by Kat’s parents and the devastating underutilization of Angela Bassett’s talents. 

Despite the issues, there are several positives I am choosing to focus on: there is jaw-dropping animation and diversity that actually reflects our world. One scene in particular of Kat standing in her abandoned home with the outlines marking the height of her younger self was so effective in delivering an emotional blow because it showed how much she’s had to grow up on her own. I will also always stand behind a reminder we need to band together against corrupt politicians and corporations, the true villains in our own lives. Overall, Wendell and Wild is still a watch worthy of your appreciation. 

Review Courtesy of Bethany Yeung