I ended up on the weekend sitting in exactly the same comfy recliner seat in the same cinema nearest my home as I was in the previous weekend when watching Digger - but this time watching the well reviewed animated film Wildwood.
I agree with what virtually every review, even those with reservations, is saying: the film is just drop dead beautiful to look at. There is, I reckon, not a second of what's on the screen that is not visually absorbing, if not outright spectacular, and it's almost overwhelming with pleasing detail. I can imagine that it is a film people will love re-watching for this reason.
As for the story - I really had no issues. It's a fantasy with mature themes suitable for children from about 9 or 10, I reckon, but also with a depth that makes very watchable for adults. In some ways, as a fantasy universe, it might be said to be a tad derivative (it's hard not to be reminded of the "talking animals mixed with humans" world of Narnia, as well as a touch of Avatar, and perhaps LOTR but without the tedious sombreness); but really, completely novel fantasy worlds are not exactly easy to come up with after several decades, if not centuries, of precedent.
I was touched by the blight of the protagonist, surprised at some of the turns, and really like the song over the end credits by the Decemberists which sums up on the key themes of the film.
It's really great and I hope that word of mouth keeps its box office up. (Curiously, my local cinema had 6 pm as the latest session, presumably figuring that there was not going to be a solely adult audience for it. That's a pretty mistaken approach, I reckon.)
Oh, and in the broken world of the culture wars, I have seen a little bit of criticism of it from MAGA people on the awful Twitter - but in a sense I had the feeling it was almost a reflex thing. A movie that doesn't make Portland, Oregon look like a hell hole, has about 5 seconds of "woke" element in a two hour movie; and is getting great reviews? That won't do, will it?
No comments:
Post a Comment