Latest stop-motion fantasy from Laika isn’t perfect — but it makes a strong case for why this artisanal animation studio matters

There are animation houses that traffic in snarky humor, pop-culture references and easy-peasy life lessons — and then there’s Laika. The Pacific Northwestern studio that gave us Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings has the artisanal and regional feel of an indie record label; it’s like the K Records of stop-motion toons.

And those vaguely hipster Portlandia vibes are very much present in Wildwood, partially in the form of light self-mockery and partially in the quirky darkness (or maybe it’s dark quirkiness) that colors its YA fantasy story. As if Laika’s homebase in Hillsboro, the Oregon region known colloquially as the Silicon Forest, weren’t strong enough bona fides, this modern fairy tale gets its source material from a 2011 novel by the Decemberists ‘ frontman Colin Meloy and his illustrator spouse Carson Ellis.…