Six years after “Teen Wolf” came to an end after six seasons, “Teen Wolf: The Movie” was released to the world. Announced in September of 2021, “Teen Wolf: The Movie” faced an onslaught of problems from the start. Fans were initially ecstatic to be returning to Beacon Hills, but disappointment after disappointment from creator Jeff Davis and network Paramount Plus snowballed into an underwhelming film that left fans wishing it had never been made. Keep reading for a breakdown of what went wrong and my personal review of “Teen Wolf: The Movie” (contains spoilers).
Despite a large number of original cast members returning for the film, the absence of those who did not return is palpable. Dylan O’Brien is the most noticeable missing face, with his fan-favorite character Stiles Stilinski only being mentioned in the film a couple of times. He is missing from the many flashbacks present in the film and even his closest friends’ memories. Most fans of the original show, including myself, are in agreement that “Teen Wolf” is not the same without Stiles’s wit, sarcasm, and intelligence. The movie certainly suffered without the talented acting from O’Brien and the charm that his character brought to Beacon Hills.
Another incredibly glaring absence was that of Arden Cho as Kira Yukimura, a fan-favorite, sword-wielding Kitsune. Kira was completely written out of the film, with no mention of her being made at all. After reportedly being offered only half the salary of her co-stars, no one can blame Cho for choosing not to return. As the only Asian woman among the main cast, Cho has expressed on her social media having no regrets over walking away from a movie deal fraught with inequality. While I missed Kira in the film, I’m glad Cho stood up for herself and is moving on to better things.
The plot of “Teen Wolf: The Movie” should not have even been attempted without Stiles and Kira. The film revives the original show’s most beloved, and arguably the best, plotline: the Nogitsune from season three. O’Brien’s acting as Void Stiles was the shining star of the season, so bringing back the same villain without him falls flat. Kira and her family history were also a major part of the season three plot, which was notably ignored in the film. They put alarmingly little emphasis on and downright excluded their Asian characters despite the Nogitsune originating in Japanese mythology. Only two Asian characters made appearances in the film: a Kitsune named Hikari, who comes off as more of a replacement for Kira than a character of her own, and a minor character named Deputy Ishida, who dies immediately.
The only original concept in the film’s plot was the return of Crystal Reed’s character Allison Argent, and even that poses major drawbacks. Allison’s death was arguably the most pivotal and emotional one in the original series and demonstrated the gravely high stakes of fighting the Nogitsune in season three. In the film, Scott McCall, Lydia Martin, and Malia Hale perform some kind of ritual that brings her back from the dead, and Allison and Scott get their happy ending. While they are a popular couple among “Teen Wolf” fans, Scott and Allison ending up together seems to take some of the significance out of their relationship. Allison’s death accentuated the Romeo and Juliet nature of her and Scott’s young love and was the source of key character and relationship developments across the entire ensemble. The reversal of the best-written character death in the show simply seems like a poor writing decision.
Allison and Scott’s happily ever after also seems to diminish the long-term relationship he had with Kira after Allison’s death. She was my personal favorite of Scott’s girlfriends, but instead of someone that he loved, she now looks more like a placeholder until he could get Allison back. “Teen Wolf: The Movie” gives viewers Scott and Allison endgame, but at the expense of virtually every other couple and popular ship. Melissa McCall and Chris Argent don’t seem to be together, despite ending season six of the show romantically involved. It looks as if Hikari and Liam Dunbar are dating, which puts an end to Liam’s popular pairings with both Hayden and Theo (characters not present in the film). There’s no mention of Mason Hewitt’s boyfriend from the show, Corey, or whether or not they’re still together. Malia and Jordan Parrish are thrown together in a rather odd pairing, which is one of the only new “couples” in the movie. It feels as if the writers put all their focus on Scott and Allison while ignoring everyone else’s love lives.
Stiles and Lydia were the show’s most well-developed couple, but the film reveals that they have broken up. They were a fan favorite ship with six seasons of build up, only to be torn apart as a plot device and source of trauma for Lydia in the film. I will admit that the reason behind the breakup is very true to character, but the film should have ended with at least some mention of Stiles and Lydia getting back together. Instead, audiences are left brokenhearted and confused. “Teen Wolf: The Movie” creators failed to write around Dylan O’Brien’s absence and do their couples justice in every aspect imaginable.
Aside from her break up with Stiles, Lydia seems to be the only character that has grown up and stayed true to her teenage identity from the show at the same time. The film shows her as the boss of a company specializing in sound science, and Lydia’s first scene depicts her explaining how she plans to utilize sound as a renewable energy source. To me, this feels very in-character for Lydia to be doing as an adult. It combines her Banshee identity with her exceptional intelligence and stand-out leadership skills seamlessly. Unfortunately, the film couldn’t keep up this theme with the rest of the characters.
With the exception of Lydia, the only characters who remained reminiscent of their show counterparts were the ones who seemed trapped in time. Melissa is still a nurse, Noah Stilinski is still the Sheriff, Parrish is still a deputy, and we still have no idea what Peter Hale does with his life. The rest of the characters are polar opposites – where they’re at in their lives makes little to no sense at all. They seem to be in random places or doing random things with no explanation given as to why. Liam is working at a bar in Japan at the start of the film. It doesn’t look as if he took on the role of alpha in Scott’s absence, he instead feels alienated from the rest of the pack. He has very little screen time and doesn’t interact with his best friend Mason at all, despite being a main character of the show’s last few seasons. Derek Hale has a son, Eli, and is living a semi-normal life with him in Beacon Hills. How he went from running from the FBI to being a single dad running an auto shop, I have no idea. Scott and Dr. Deaton are running animal shelters and veterinary clinics, which may seem normal at first. However, neither of them are in Beacon Hills. It’s odd for Scott to have chosen not to return to his hometown, and it’s even odder for Deaton to have moved his practice out of Beacon Hills. It is quite baffling to me how these characters could have been handled so poorly.
With all of that being said, I do have a couple of good things to say about this film. The addition of Eli Hale, played by Vince Mattis, to the cast of characters was enjoyable. His father-son dynamic with Derek was entertaining to watch, especially since Eli’s personality and sense of humor are very reminiscent of Stiles, whom Derek shared plenty of funny scenes with in “Teen Wolf.” Eli gets just enough screen time for audiences to get to know him, but not enough for his presence to overpower the original cast members, which sets him up perfectly to join the prominence of the main cast in any future projects.
“Teen Wolf: The Movie” creators clearly realized that their original audience has matured since first watching the show in 2011, and it’s reflected in the script. The characters use bigger swear words (my personal favorite part about the film), which perfectly fits the new adult personas of the previously teenaged characters, like Malia, and the characters who probably would have been swearing all along if they could, like Chris. There’s also more nudity in the film and the visual effects are noticeably more modern.
Failing the characters, the fans, and the actors alike, “Teen Wolf: The Movie” had no business being made or being marketed as “a love letter to the fans.” There are not nearly enough good things about this film to justify disrupting the perfectly satisfactory finale of the original show. With a critics score of 32% and an audience score of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, I have a feeling that “Teen Wolf: The Movie” will hold its spot as one of the most disappointing movies of the year. Sometimes nostalgia is just not enough.
Additional source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/teen-wolf-the-movie-arden-cho-release-kira-1235311073/