People always associate Tim Burton with The Nightmare Before Christmas, but Henry Selick is the one to think of. Afterwards, he made James and the Giant Peach, a not very well-known Brendan Fraser film called Monkeybone, Coraline which was acclaimed but had some unsettling aspects that were hard to explain to little ones. This makes it 13 years since his last movie whose development period consumed seven years thereby causing the effective arrival of his new project – Wendell & Wild.
Wendell & Wild is an animated film co-written by Jordan Peele, starring Keegan-Michael Key, Lyric Ross, Angela Bassett, James Hong, Ving Rhames, Tamara Smart and many more as voice actors on Netflix; it is beautifully animated and highly imaginative while soulful enough to be considered as arguably the best animation movie of this year.
Playing Kat Elliot in this way is Lyric Ross who portrays a girl who lost her parents when she was very young. She has been in and out of foster homes ever since which has led to her feeling insecure and angry while acting out against bullies who take advantage of her leading to frequent incarceration for fighting back. An angry young woman who has been through the system and bears deep scars from it but now has what could be termed “an opportunity” at changing her life through Break The Cycle program upon return back home where she will be placed in a Catholic school meant for mostly rich kids.
The students in uniform are good people who are just vain (they’re referred as “prize poodles” by Kat). On the contrary, Kat dyes her hair green; wears boots that reach up to her knees with studs sticking out all over them; and plays killer punk rock music from her father’s boombox. However there are two demons waiting round the bend who will offer her back her dead parents soonest she realizes it.Likewise, Wendell & Wild’s carefully crafted aesthetic should be apparent in the “eyes” of its boombox which is composed of a bloodshot surface on a circular stereo, indicative of microscopic attention to detail that defines the entire film.
Selick’s love for character design and world-building shines through Wendell & Wild, and it may be argued that he is the greatest contemporary stop-motion animation director other than Aardman. Fewer frames per second were used during filming along with cutout animation, silhouette animation, and some CGI by Selick making Wendell & Wild visually stunning, comparable to any recent stop-motion feature. Each character here is so uniquely drawn and colored while every set looks just right but not like most animations’ glaringly bright busy simple graphics.
Some of Wendell & Wild’s best animation occurs when Selick takes us to hell. The result is spooky, clever but funny at the same time as we meet Wendell and Wild (played by Key and Peele respectively) who are two demons. In an attempt to create a new hell they are sent into exile onto their father’s head. This father happens to be an enormous balding demon with whom they shatter his skull digging into it before hiding hair cream inside. However, this miraculous hair cream could actually bring back the dead as they will later find out.
Kat could be a Hell Maiden, perhaps attributed to her colossal childhood trauma; she has these powers to summon and talk to demons (which are basically her personal ones), so Wendell and Wild have a pact with her. They would bring back their dead parents if she summoned them into the real world, where they can fulfill their dreams and escape hair-plug prison. It’s a deal, but of course nothing is simple when you make deals with devil or even two bumbling little devils like these.
This part can be slightly creepy but it really depends on the individual parent’s view about whether this is appropriate for small children. A good test is if Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline weren’t too bad then neither is this one. Even more so since it also has social and moral messages.
Ross plays Kat who feels guilty about her parents’ death as she grows up while paying for years in foster care, juvie prisons, and “poor schools.” She returns home to Rust Bank where her new school is located only to discover most of the town has had similar fates since losing her parents (their brewery burned down killing many people and ruining the local economy). Instead of which Klaxon Corporation has invaded Rust Bank hoping to build a private jail there after destruction.
Believe it or not, this PG-13 movie delves much deeper into much more important themes than the usual “believe in yourself” tripe of most animated films. It’s a funny, weird, silly movie that addresses the school-to-prison pipeline (especially pertaining people of color) far better than any ‘serious’ drama probably has ever done. In addition to its usual topics such as family and friendships, Wendell & Wild goes into issues like guilt, corporate greediness’, local politics action trans rights and public schools without being ‘educational’ nor preachy though For young viewers all these themes might get mixed-up or piled-on, but in the end it all comes together and works.
Apart from teaching kids about real life, Wendell & Wild is full of amazing, down-to-earth characters (although they are stop motion). Of course, Kat tops everyone as a fierce punk rocker whose pain has turned into deep-rooted misanthropy, but just about every character in this movie is three-dimensional and fleshed out. James Hong plays the headmaster of the school who is basically a weasely rapscallion only interested in his school’s survival. These rich spoiled kids aren’t mean; they’re just ignorant and once they know what the evil fictional corporation does, they talk sense.
In Wendell & Wild there are very few stereotypes or typical clichés (except for Klaxon’s evil corporate overlords’ however these days with billionaires literally trying to escape the earth they’re destroying by building bunkers and flying to Mars.) They are usually real people in a world much like ours; unexpected powerful calls for local political action and standing up for one’s own communities make this film exceptional.
Of course, Key & Peele are wonderful together again. However, they take it further than just having a great script and nice line readings. Throughout the film, this seesaws between being totally laugh-out-loud funny to pathetically stupid and then to demonically intimidating before switching to something endearing. Angela Bassett is also great in the role of an older nun at the Catholic school who takes Kat under her wing.
The music is fantastic all around, alternating between Bruno Coulais’ beautiful and hip score and random pop songs without becoming too silly or cheesy (for example, there are no montages with I’m a Believer). Some musical moments feel very Nightmare Before Christmas-ish but essentially distinct particularly as they reflect the largely BIPOC characters in the film.
It is easy to imagine Robert Anich’s editing as a vast amount of animation seamlessly brought together into one whole piece that makes sense; even though we wish the ending were less tidy than it was, his editing made it exhilarating anyways. The cinematography by Peter Sorg brings out the best in this beautiful animation which has been perfected by Selick and lead designer Pablo Lobato. All in all, Wendell & Wild is surprisingly meaningful with a lot of depth but has an extremely fun surface that is gorgeous on top.
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