“I don’t know if this is terrifying or adorable.” says the protagonist Prue McKeel when she enters the public town hall of the South Woods. A subdivision of a magical forest that is told to us of being impassable and inadmissible to outsiders. The declaration made by Prue can summarize the entire look and feel of “Wildwood”. There is a soft creepiness to it. What makes an immediate impact is the lighting in this. It’s just pure glow at times and formidable harsh at others. The great care to light is what is most revered. How the light reflects and bounces and glues on the characters and the settings is remarkable.  The waxy, plastic build of the animals and people enhance the light. It feels like a tangible world and other times feels artificial, it is a mixture. At times the film reminds of the playfulness and silly of childlike comedies and other times it is gothic and eerie, but that gets beaten down not to go too frightening.  Wildwood is an obvious blend of fairy tale wonder and fairy tale horror. “Wildwood” is a blend with a very familiar and overtly used story. It’s not the story that will be recalled, but the look of it, which will hurt it the most. The characters are shown with depth and texture but personality-sake are all flat and wooden. We all know the great owl would be wise and the night wolves will be the threat. We know the kidnapped kid will be found and the wretched rat would turn out to be kind and friendly.

The film score is typically filled with wonder and string orchestra.  The beats and themes and exposition are all have been done before, but not in the light that is used in this before. The story of the woods being a danger and forewarned by parents and elders to stay away is ancient. The thing is that there is just too much talking and not a lot of action and not enough beautiful rich settings can cure that. What really is unique is the sensation that this is a musical without music. The film does have sets up where you feel a song will be emerging but never does. “Wildwood” would rather have the character talk it out throughout the entire film, actually showing scenes of after a battle occurring. The action in this remains stiff and stubborn. The characters rather stand in place then move. The camera tracks only for vehicle motion. There just isn’t that stand out scene or standout characters. Even an hour in it was difficult to care for anyone or for what was going to happen or manifest. The only thing magical in this was the lighting, the only wild was everyone’s hair. 7/10