Laika Studios, best known for the film Coraline, is an independent stop-motion animation studio based in Portland, Oregon. This past October, they released Wildwood, the longest stop-motion animated feature film ever to hit the big screen. At 2 hours and 12 minutes, Wildwood is incredibly detailed and emotionally dense. If this movie somehow escaped your radar, see it. You’ll be amazed.
History of Laika Studios
Laika Studios was founded in 2005 with a dream to redefine storytelling and provide a sanctuary for stop-motion artists simultaneously. In the Age of Artificial Intelligence, this mission has become increasingly critical to our connection to art. Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, and his son Travis Knight own and financially support Laika. Despite struggles to achieve profitability on the majority of their films, such as Paranorman, The Boxtrolls, and Missing Link, many private investors like the Knights understand the importance of funding the arts and protecting the purity of human creation.
The studio name even has inspirational roots, and it might surprise you. Laika, the Russian word for “bark,” was the name of a Soviet space dog who was sent into Earth’s orbit. She was the first living creature to reach the exosphere, and despite the incredibly sad ending, she is often remembered for her small beginnings and pioneering spirit. Both the dog and the studio have redefined the arc of human ingenuity.
Stop-Motion Animation
Another reason I’m so obsessed with Laika Studios is their incredible use of stop-motion animation. Stop-motion animation is the process of using figurines and marginally changing their position over and over again until an entire scene is created. This process is incredibly time-consuming; however, its ability to mimic life-like movements and elicit emotion makes it captivating to watch.
Before seeing Wildwood, I encourage you to invest time in an art form dating back to 1898. Some great places to start would be Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle of the Dogs, Coraline, Frankenweenie, or my personal favorite, Paranorman. With the rise of AI, it’s important, now more than ever, to commit time to arts that center human creativity and emotion, especially for the new film Wildwood.
Wildwood
The film follows Prue, a teenage girl, on a magical quest to save her baby brother who was abducted by a murder of crows. Hidden within the outskirts of Portland, Oregon, lies Wildwood, an enchanted forest teeming with talking animals and intrigue. It’s an epic tale of “love, loss, sacrifice, and secrets, and of the magic you can find on your doorstep, if you’re willing to look for it” (Laika Studios).
This story, rife with its emotional depth, was incredibly complex and difficult to bring to life. As mentioned earlier, they began planning this film in 2011, just two years after the hit film Coraline came out. They needed a decade to develop the specific tools and techniques necessary to pull off a stop-motion animation of this magnitude. With the help of over 1,000 people, they shot the film at 24 frames per second, with each frame taking over an hour to make.
I can’t begin to wrap my head around the precision and attention to detail that went into creating something this special. If you are debating whether or not to go to a theater to watch, do it! The best way to fully be immersed in the world of Wildwood is on the big screen.
Laika Studios sacrifices its profit margin in the spirit of preserving the craftsmanship and importance of human creativity. It’s important that we invest resources and encourage the artisans who work tirelessly to shepherd an immensely technical and rewarding craft of stop-motion animation alive. Films such as Wildwood continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and what it means to be human. Artificial Intelligence can never fully encapsulate human emotion the way films from Laika Studios can. They are rich with passion, love, grief, hope, and everything in between, and that itself is an art that must be protected. That is what it means to be human.