Wendell & Wild, 2022.
Directed by Henry Selick.
Featuring the voice talents of Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Lyric Ross, Angela Bassett, James Hong, Sam Zelaya, Seema Virdi, Tamara Smart, Ramona Young, Ving Rhames, Natalie Martinez, Tantoo Cardinal, Gabrielle Dennis, Igal Naor, David Harewood, Maxine Peake, and Gary Gatewood.
SYNOPSIS:
Two scheming demon brothers, Wendell and Wild, enlist the aid of 13-year-old Kat Elliot (Lyric Ross) to summon them to the Land of the Living.
Wendell & Wild sees director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas teaming up with modern horror maestro and comedian Jordan Peele (based on the book by Selick and Clay McLeod Chapman), a combination yielding expectedly and pleasantly weird, visually dazzling stop-motion, punk-rock results.
The film follows moody and rebellious 13-year-old orphan Kat (voiced by Lyric Ross), five years removed from a tragic car accident taking her parent’s lives, still consumed with guilt, and now sent back to her hometown to join a Catholic school. The brewery establishment her parents once ran is now defunct, as is most of Rust Bank’s activity and source of income. She is immediately confrontational with the mysterious but understanding Sister Helley (voiced by Angela Bassett), goody-two-shoes classmates she believes to have nothing in common with, and generally never misses an opportunity to lash out.
In Hell, titular hairdresser demon brothers Wendell & Wild (voiced by the always hilarious duo of Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key) have bold new plans for an amusement park down under, but their fatherly oppressor Buffalo Belzer (voiced by Ving Rhames) who already has a bemusement park filled with all sorts of hellishly dangerous ride attractions across his mammoth body, is disinterested in their ideas. As such, they make a supernatural connection with Kat and travel to the land above to construct their rides there, possessing magical hair cream that can bring back anyone and anything from the dead, offering to bring her parents back to life in exchange for their dream.
The plot here is as busy as the animation, which oftentimes disrupts the emotional impact of an otherwise moving sorry about overcoming grief and demons, literal and metaphorical. It also helps that Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key look like animated versions of themselves (just shaded purple and with small wings) and haven’t lost a step interacting together. There also aren’t necessarily villains, which is a refreshing change of pace.
In Wendell & Wild, the humans are the evildoers, namely a scheming, powerfully wealthy couple looking to advantageously build a prison that will prove financially lucrative by housing all the problem children that go on to get into trouble as adults. Unfortunately, they don’t have support from the town to go ahead with this plan, but they do have partners in crime (James Hong voicing Father Bests) and a dastardly idea to get the dimwitted demons on their side, raising the dead committee members that will no doubt vote in favor of them (a nice little reminder that past political figures weren’t always perfect and typically held regressive beliefs that we continue to move on from, at least in some cases).
Then there are also more characters that simply feel unnecessary, further hampering the central focus of the narrative. It’s also frustrating that some of the voiceover performances come across as lost or disengaged with the material, but there are quite a few connections aside from Key & Peele that come alive.
Wendell & Wild is darkly humorous and distinctly Henry Selick with arresting imagery, but the plot itself could have been tighter. Nevertheless, it lands on an emotionally moving ending, containing unique themes children don’t often see in animated films. In some respects, the film feels like a relic of the 90s, and I say that as a compliment.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
