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demifiendrsa · 2 years

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Wendell & Wild | Official Teaser

Wendell & Wild will stream on Netflix on October 28, 2022.

Teaser Poster

Synopsis

From the delightfully wicked minds of Henry Selick (director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline) and Jordan Peele (Nope, Us, Get Out) comes the story of Kat (Lyric Ross), a troubled teen haunted by her past, who must confront her personal demons, Wendell & Wild (played by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) to start a new life in her old hometown.

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rookie-critic · 1 year

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Wendell & Wild (2022, dir. Henry Selick) - review by Rookie-Critic

Wendell & Wild was a wonderful stop-motion animated film with one of the best soundtracks of 2022 and a story that, while nothing spectacularly new, was wildly entertaining and full of Halloween heart. The newest from Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas visionary Henry Selick from a script co-written by Selick and Jordan Peele, Wendell & Wild follows Kat, an orphaned girl who, failed by the system, is dumped into a school for girls as a part of a juvenile detention rehabilitation program (the headmaster of which is very much just in it for the funding it gives to his school). Shortly after arriving, Kat starts to notice strange powers arising within her, and sees two demons (the titular Wendell & Wild, played by none other than Keegan-Michael Key & Peele) that tell her they can bring her parents back if she'll summon them to the land of the living. It of course is a bit more complicated than that, but there's your bird's eye view.

The cast of this film is a nice mix of a few veteran names alongside a slurry of fresh talent, and almost all of the newer names give fantastic performances. I'll note that a couple of the performances felt very wooden, and stood out all the more because of the phenomenal job being done by the rest of the cast. Another win for this film is its commitment to positive representation with a number of characters, the most prominent of which being the trans character Raúl. Outside of a handful of moments where the fact that Raúl is trans are brought up, the character is allowed to exist and not have his whole character defined by his gender, but rather by his loyalty and artistry. It just really seems like a lot of love and care went into making sure his character, as well as other characters representative of a marginalized group, were not portrayed as a token character of that group, but just as another character in the movie, who are fully realized personalities that are not just pigeonholed into "the trans character" or "the disabled character." That effort did not go unnoticed and I applaud Selick and Peele for making that happen. I'll also applaud this film for daring to be dark and go places that a traditional "family friendly" film wouldn't and discuss themes that most studios would say are "too mature" for a younger audience. Discussing death and loss in such a direct way, and especially framing that loss as a child losing both of their parents at an intensely young age, is a bold move on Selick's part. He, of course, is no stranger to darker themes, having made movies like Coraline, but somehow Wendell & Wild feels more grounded, more real in its depiction of death, even though it still has a foot firmly planted in the darkly fantastical, and I appreciate a movie that's willing to give a younger demographic a little more credit and give them the exposure to mature themes with the idea that they can understand and handle them.

Now it's time to give a shout out to the biggest pro this film has in its corner: the soundtrack. The needle drops in this film are insanely well done with near Guardians of the Galaxy levels of style and precision, with a track list mostly consisting of punk rock music from the late 70s/early 80s, but that ventures into alternative rock acts like TV on the Radio, and even throws in some ska for good measure. Every track hits as intended when it plays in the film, and I could not be more of a fan. If this collection of songs were available for purchase on vinyl or even CD, I'd be first in line to buy it. This one's been at the back of my head, buried in my much-neglected "streaming watch list," ever since it dropped on Netflix back in late October, and I'm glad I finally took the time to sit down and check it out.

Score: 9/10

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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randomrichards · 1 year

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WENDALL & WILD:

Demons want theme park

Summoned by traumatized teen

Caught in corporate plot

youtube

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neowitcher · 1 year

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WENDELL & WILD | FILM REVIEW

Wendell & Wild (2022) ★★★★

Animation/Horror/Comedy, 1h 45m

Dir. Henry Selick

Cast: Lyric Ross, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Angela Bassett, James Hong, Sam Zelaya, Seema Virdi, Tamara Smart, Ramona Young, Ving Rhames & others

Summary:

Two demon brothers enlist the aid of Kat Elliot — a tough teen with a load of guilt — to summon them to the Land of the Living. But what Kat demands in return leads to a brilliantly bizarre and comedic adventure like no other. (Letterboxd)

My review (minor spoilers):

An incredible stop-motion collaboration between Henry Selick and Jordan Peele, Wendell & Wild arrives just in time to spice up our cold days. As soon as I picked up those two names, I knew I was in for a good film and it’s always nice to be right about that.

Kat Elliot (Ross) is a dream of a protagonist, having personality and style as well as a whole lot of layers. She’s struggling with the loss of her parents, something she blames herself for, and that grief is a big theme in the film. When she meets demons Wendell (Key) and Wild (Peele), she naturally doesn’t miss out on the opportunity to bring her parents back. Unlike a lot of protagonists in creepy settings, Kat’s actions and motivations actually make sense, despite some of the outcomes of her decisions being a bit predictable sometimes.

The rest of the characters are also great and most don’t feel one-dimensional to me. It’s a “there’s villains and there’s the real villains” situation which I quite enjoyed and made the film even more likeable, especially its ending. One thing that did feel lacking by the end were the interactions between some of the characters. Kat dealing with trauma means she doesn’t easily let other people in, afraid something bad will happen to them because of her. This characteristic of hers makes a lot of sense but I wish that her friendship with Raúl (Zelaya) had some more depth, especially towards the end. I feel like the film might be slightly more family-focused instead, because the few interactions we see between her and her parents are beautiful.

The film has stunning animation and character design, as well as a fitting soundtrack that made everything tie together. Despite there being a lot going on, I felt like most of the story made sense and was easier to follow than I’d imagined. The transitions between scenes, however, didn’t always flow, simply fading to black when the previous scene needed just a couple more seconds to process. This is only a minor critique because otherwise, it was an incredible animation film that deserves a lot of love.

Even if animation isn’t your cup of tea, Wendell & Wild is worth checking out based on its diversity alone, something that is still seriously lacking in a large part of cinema today. Most of the characters and their cast are Black, Latinx and Asian, and Raúl is a trans character, and it’s nice to see a movie, especially one made by Selick who has directed some serious animation classics, actually portray a larger portion of society. Overall, it’s sure to not leave you disappointed, especially if you’re looking to prolong the spooky feeling of Halloween.

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ftonews · 2 years

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According to Shadow and act...."The cast for Wendell and Wild will include Key as Wild, Peele as Wendell, as well as Lyric Ross, Angela Bassett, James Hong, Tamara Smart, Natalie Martinez, Tantoo Cardinal, Gabrielle Dennis, Igal Naor, David Harewood, Maxine Peake, Ramona Young, Sam Zelaya, Seema Virdi, Gary Gatewood and Ving Rhames."

#wendellandwild #keyandpeele #angelabassett #vingrhames #lyricross #netflix

#wendell and wild #ving rhames #angela bassett #lyric ross #Netflix #key and peele

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biancasiercke · 5 years

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