Wildwood is the latest LAIKA film and releases in theaters this weekend, adapting the book of the same name by writer Colin Meloy and artist Carson Ellis. The film is a love letter to the city of Portland that transports viewers into a modern fairy tale filled with talking animals and a magical forest. Peyton Elizabeth Lee voices Prue McKeel, who will do anything to save her little brother from the dowager governess Alexandra (Carey Mulligan).
Peyton Elizabeth Lee on Voicing Prue McKeel
Lee is known for portraying the titular character in Andi Mack. In Wildwood, she is an impulsive kid who disobeyed her parents by taking her little baby brother, Mac, out on a trip. As a result, a murder of crows kidnaps him. Now it’s up to Prue and Curtis to venture into the Impassable Wilderness and bring back her baby brother.
“I think it’s really exciting getting to play characters that have a big moment in their lives that kind of throws everything around and mixes everything up and turns their lives upside down,” Lee tells Nerd Reactor. “Because I think you learn the most about a person in those moments of uncertainty, in exploring something new. I think that’s where one’s humanity is really tested and one really has the ability to grow. And so getting to portray a character sort of at that landmark moment, and how they come out of that and the person they become because of that, I think is such a beautiful thing to see that change and that transformation.”
Jacob Tremblay on Voice Acting
Jacob Tremblay voices Curtis, a boy who loves to geek out and is excited to hang out with Prue. In Wildwood, he had to rely on his imagination and director Travis Knight (Bumblebee, Kubo and the Two Strings) to bring Curtis to life.
“It requires a lot more imagination because with live action, you’re able to be there on set with other actors,” Tremblay explained. “You’re there in your wardrobe, so there’s a lot of different things that you can draw on to work towards your performance. And with animation, every time you’re on your own, usually the director’s on Zoom, and you’re in this booth, so it’s a very unnatural kind of environment.”
Wildwood Creators on Portland and Forest Park
The book’s creators, Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, worked together on the Wildwood book, and one of the most pivotal things they wanted to showcase was Portland’s Forest Park.
“It’s a 5,000 acre wooded park,” Meloy said. “It’s like right up against the city. And walking into it, you will have been on like a neighborhood street, and then suddenly you’re just in the middle of the woods, it has this sort of transportative effect. And it always feels sort of magical stepping into Forest Park, and that was really the conceit of the whole thing.”
Illustrator Carson Ellis, Meloy’s wife, was the artist for the book, and she admits that it was tough trying to bring to life Portland in her art.
“So I didn’t have the best time because I love the place so much,” Ellis said. “It was always really hard for me to feel like I had captured it. And so I kind of stylized it so that it was something that I could draw and paint. I think Laika did a better job. I think that they really recognize Forest Park in the movie in a way that I think is very cool.”
Writing and reading is usually a solo experience, and Meloy enjoyed the communal experience when he saw the film at a London screening.
“We saw it in a big theater in London last week, and that’s the first time I’d seen the finished thing,” Meloy explained. “It was really extraordinary and I didn’t expect to see it in a room with 2,000 plus people. All communally sharing the story was kind of an extraordinary experience when you think about novel writing and novel reading as being very solitary singular activity. So that was kind of wild to me to think about this story. But now we’re all sharing it together, which is one of the profound things about cinema and that’s why watching movies in theaters I think is so important.”
About Wildwood
Synopsis: After her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) launches a desperate rescue mission into the Impassable Wilderness—an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Oregon. Joined by her hapless but loyal classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), Prue navigates a world of talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition. As the pair is drawn into a conflict threatening the balance of the forest itself, Prue must discover the strength and belief she never knew she possessed. If she hopes to save her brother and protect Wildwood’s fragile future, she will have to risk everything.
The film is directed by Travis Knight and written by Chris Butler.
The voice cast includes Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Maya Erskine, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Tom Waits, Richard E. Grant, Amandla Stenberg, Tantoo Cardinal, Len Cariou, and Marc Evan Jackson.
Wildwood released in theaters on Friday, October 23, 2026.
