Wildwood (Travis Knight, 2026)

Where the wild things areToo long didn't read: Travis Knight's Wildwood in a nutshell is easily the best animated of the year-- of several years-- one of the best stop-motions ever, one of the most beautiful autumnal films ever made. Better than Lord of the Rings, easy.Actually not being fair. Never been a fan of Lord of the Rings. (WARNING: story and plot twists discussed in some detail)Not kidding about the autumn. Easy enough to do eyepopping burnt gold and glowing orange but what Knight does is more interesting-- deep green backdrops against which the occasional full-color tree stands out, like a staked-out Christian flaming in the middle of the night. The town of Portland, Oregon is a main character, the eccentric shops and even more eccentric passing unipipers standing or pedaling past streets lit by the dying embers of Persian Ironwood and Japanese maple. The stop-motion-- well I'm a purist; I love Wes Anderson's love of classic stop-motion's herky-jerky motion, the occasional…

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