Netflix’s “Wendell & Wild” may be on your radar as Jordan Peele’s first animated feature, but stop-motion fans will be flocking to their living rooms for the return of Henry Selick, the director behind such epics as “Coraline,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” “James and the Giant Peach.”
Selick hasn’t occupied the director’s chair since his spooky 2009 masterpiece “Coraline,”So “Wendell & Wild,”The co-written and produced by Peele and Selick under Monkeypaw Productions by Peele has made horror and animation lovers around the world count down the days to its debut.
Unfortunately, while this eye-popping feature makes the most of Selick’s creative sensibilities, its bloated script hobbles the (blood)flow. This film hasEverything: demons, zombies, penguin nuns, prosthetic feet, priests in pope hats, arson — and, of course, dead parents. “Wendell & Wild”This book is jam-packed full of characters and capital-I issues. One could probably spend an entire dinner talking about its plot.
Nevertheless, here’s an attempt at abridgement: Kat (voiced by Lyric Ross, “This Is Us”As a little girl, she lost her parents to a car accident. She blames herself and ends up in prison. However, she was able to return to her Catholic school thanks to a program called “The Catholic School in My Hometown.” “Break the Cycle.”Her hometown and school are in peril, and Klax Korp, a greedy Klax Korp, is determined to take their place. Kat soon discovers that she can summon demons and has supernatural powers at school.
Meanwhile demon brothers Wendell (Peele) and Wild (Peele’s former comedy partner Keegan-Michael Key) are fed up with the underworld, where they must endlessly apply hair cream to their father’s skull. Buffalo Belzer (Ving Rhames), their bad father, runs a haunted amusement park that tortures the souls of lost people. Wild and Wendell want their own park, and hope to be granted freedom when Kat appears in a vision. They promise to revive her parents by using the hair cream with its ambiguous magical powers.
If those sound like the plots of two different movies, that’s because they probably should be. Where Selick’s other projects focus on fairy tale–like plots with clear goals and rules, “Wendell & Wild”You can ping-pong between random topics, but only occasionally land on the landing. “Whiplash-inducing”It is difficult to describe the viewing experience of Kat, the sullen punk who takes on childhood traumas as well as prison reform, while Wild and Wendell squash bugs into booger sculptures.
Even though the movie is socially conscious, the monsters in the film are much more real than those in the rhino. “James and the Giant Peach”Or the Other Mother of “Coraline,” they’re not even half as scary. One, Klax Korp’s patriarch is made to look like a Black Donald Trump. For another, it’s difficult to build real stakes in a movie with such erratic focus.
Despite its faults, it is still a great place to be. “Wendell & Wild”This film is undoubtedly a visual delight. It’s impossible to watch any stop-motion film without appreciating its artistry, even more so when that film is directed by Henry Selick. Every shot is a masterpiece of style and care, whether it’s a tire rolling through an icy pothole or a shapeshifting Octopus. Clips in the credits show the animators’ painstaking work as they navigate enormous sets to bring detailed puppets to life. You can see a striking resemblance in the voices of the little demon Peele. Even if you enjoy “Wendell & Wild” on the small screen, you’ll find it difficult to look away.
The movie’s best gags and scares are primarily visual, too. The movie’s best gags and scares are visual. A zombie infested with maggots offers Selick horror. Two nuns who look almost uncannily like penguins make an appearance. The script spoils the gag when one character calls the sisters. “penguins,” but their names — Sister Chinstrap and Sister Daly — are a stroke of genius.)
Selick and Bruno Coulais (French composer), are reunited in this film. Selick’s haunting choral pieces and jazzy riffs helped to make this film. “Coraline” so unique. Coulais adds a similar flavor, but it is not repetitive. “Wendell & Wild,”The soundtrack pays tribute to punk rock, however. You’re likely to find yourself humming the film’s gravedigging jam hours after the credits roll.
“Wendell & Wild”It is not worth sending to the underworld but will likely leave eager fans indifferent. Where the film draws comparison to Selick’s other iconic work — like his last film, which also revolved around a young, teenage girl with strangely colored hair — it falls short. This film fails to have the creepiness that Selick and Peele were able offer by the hearseload. The most memorable villain of the film “Wendell & Wild”Trump’s analog. It will be a few decades before it becomes a Trump analog. The terror of the Other Mum is eternal.
The greatest sin of all is its authorial weight. “Wendell & Wild” isn’t that it’s flawed; it’s that it’s forgettable. Although it has some great tricks and treats, the movie is not worth the effort. However, like a pillowcase filled with Halloween candy, it’s messy, incongruous, and likely to leave you unsatisfied.
“Wendell & Wild”Opening in select US theaters October 21st and premiering on Netflix Oct. 28th