'Wildwood' Is the Longest Stop-Motion Animated Film Ever. Each Frame of the Movie Is a Marvel of Handcrafted World Building

Laika’s forthcoming Wildwood is being presented as the longest stop-motion animated feature yet made, a distinction that underscores the scale of the Portland studio’s latest project. The film’s expansive running time is matched by a production built from physical sets, miniature objects and individually dressed puppets. Among the craftspeople shaping that tactile world is costume designer Deborah Cook, whose work helps give its imagined woodland society a lived-in visual identity.

Wildwood centers on Prue, a determined young girl drawn into a perilous journey after her infant brother is taken. She heads into the mysterious forest with Curtis, a schoolmate who becomes part of the search. Their adventure unfolds in a fantastical version of the wooded landscape around Portland, Oregon, where the ordinary world gives way to a realm populated by distinctive characters, places and communities.

Cook created more than 200 costume elements for the film. In stop-motion, clothing is not simply an accessory added after a scene has been shot: it must function at miniature scale while allowing a puppet to be repositioned repeatedly, frame by frame. A costume therefore has to communicate personality and setting without overwhelming the small figure wearing it or disrupting the careful movement required for animation.

That attention to material detail is central to Laika’s approach. Stop-motion filmmaking relies on physical environments that can be photographed incrementally as characters are moved in minute stages. A garment, prop or textured surface may appear on screen for only a moment, but it can contribute to the credibility of an entire invented place. The unusually long format of Wildwood gives the production more room to develop that handcrafted environment.

Cook joined Laika after working on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. The studio later invited her to take part in Coraline, prompting her to move from London to Portland. That earlier film went on to receive an Academy Award nomination, and Cook remained with Laika after its completion. Her career at the studio has since connected costume work with some of the company’s most technically demanding productions.

Her decision to stay was also tied to Laika’s commitment to the medium. Travis Knight, the company’s chief executive and the director of Wildwood, has been closely associated with the studio’s investment in stop-motion. For artists who work in miniature fabrication, that commitment matters because the process requires time, specialized labor and a willingness to build real objects for images that could otherwise be created digitally.

The new film adapts Wildwood, a middle-grade fantasy novel published in 2011. Colin Meloy wrote the book, while Carson Ellis supplied its illustrations. The source material already established a visual and narrative framework rooted in a strange forest beyond Portland, leaving the film team with the challenge of translating a richly illustrated literary setting into dimensional sets and animated figures.

Adaptation also brings a balancing act. Readers familiar with the novel may look for traces of its characters, atmosphere and illustrated sensibility, while film audiences will encounter the story through Laika’s own visual language. The production’s extensive costume count suggests that the filmmakers are treating clothing as one route into that world-building, using fabric, silhouette and small-scale detail to distinguish its inhabitants.

The record-length claim will likely draw attention, but it also raises practical questions that will only be answered when the film reaches audiences. A longer stop-motion feature can offer a broader canvas for character and setting, yet it must sustain momentum across its full duration. What comes next is the test of how Laika’s handcrafted ambition, Knight’s direction and Cook’s miniature designs combine into a coherent journey through the Wildwood.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine