The race of Henry Selick was marked forever by ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, the first feature film of her career that many mistakenly believe was directed by Tim Burton. All of his films since then have made use of stop-motion animation to a greater or lesser extent, with the remarkable ‘The Worlds of Coraline’ standing out among them.
Unfortunately, Selick had not released a feature film for 13 years, but that will change this Friday, October 28, the premiere date in Netflix of Wendell and Wild, a film that has taken seven years to make a reality. The result is charming and worthwhile, but it’s only fair to point out that it’s not as solid as his best work.
a little imbalance
In ‘Wendell and Wild’ they dwell two different movies. On the one hand we have the story of a teenager willing to do whatever it takes to get her deceased parents back. That is where the narrative is clearer, since it addresses her desires and how to achieve them with simplicity, also giving the necessary keys so that the most emotional side of her works without ever becoming the only focus of interest.
On the other hand, we have the two demons that give the film its name, which is where the funniest touch of the show comes from. They themselves often made me think of a more twisted version of the lackeys of Hades in ‘Hercules’ but without fully exploiting the undeniable comic vis Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peelewho lend their voices in the original version of the film.
The curious thing is that the mixture of both things does work, being when the two demons go separately when there are moments in which the film suffers a bit by showing that it wants to get to many things without everything flowing, as if it were saturating what should be much clearer and cleaner in the narrative. There I would not be surprised if some viewers get bored because there are times when it gets more complicated than necessary without providing something to compensate. For my part, it doesn’t seem serious enough to take you out of the movie, but it does take some of the packaging away.
More details of ‘Wendell and Wild’
That causes certain problems of rhythm that are compensated by how inspired several scenes are -I am thinking, for example, of the town hall vote- and by its impeccable visual finish. There Selick does manage to balance the tendency towards the macabre of history with a beautiful finish without falling into unnecessary preciousness.
In fact, stop-motion animation is one of the strengths of ‘Wendell and Wild’, since it is known how to take advantage of the great advances that have been made in it without wanting to lose that peculiar and imperfect touch that really distinguishes it from other proposals. This is even noticeable in the design of some characters and helps give them a clearer identity.
Also, the whole part focused on the teenager does achieve that desired continuity which Wendell and Wild lack. It is true that the story feels a bit predictable, but it is well aligned from the script and the main character has the necessary hook so that the viewer does not watch what happens from emotional distance.
In short
‘Wendell and Wild’ is an effective film that mixes terror and comedy that perhaps it exceeds including more things when everything would have worked more if it had focused more decisively on the protagonist instead of giving so much presence to the two characters from whom it takes its title. All in all, she visually seduces, both in design and finish, and leaves several scenes quite successful.
In Espinof: