Henry Selick is easily one of animations biggest directors, having directed movies that have breeched both the mainstream and the cult fanbases. From The Nightmare Before Christmas to Coraline, Henry Selick's movies are loved by animation fans all over, and with a collaboration with Jordan Peele, who has also produced beloved horror movies of recent years, it seems this would be a match made in Heaven. How could it possibly go wrong... Oh right... Netflix.
As I always say when I talk about animated movies that go directly to Netflix, I do not have high expectations of them. Yes, they have distributed some really good stuff, Klaus and Arlo the Alligator Boy were good movies, but the amount of absolute garbage they also peddle kind of outweighs the good stuff. Simply put, Netflix seems to stick their name on any crap and hope it's watched by enough people. Duck Duck Goose, Pets United, The Larva Island Movie, Vanguard's absolute unwatchable pieces of test animations like Gnome Alone and Fearless. They put their brand on absolute piles of unredeemable garbage and I seem to be the only one who acknowledges them. That being said, I know it is not entirely Netflix's fault, a lot of these movies are just movies they put their branding on, not actually ones they had made for them, and fair is fair, while I missed Appolo 10½ and The Sea Beast, they are both on my catch-up list, the reaction to both of them has been positive, so it does seem like this year, Netflix has upped their game this year.
So what about Wendell & Wild, is this movie any good? Is it another The House, or another Riverdance? Well, neither, it's a Wendell & Wild, and Wendell & Wild is good, damn good even.
I have said it before, I will say it again, the animated movie line-up this year has been mediocre at best. Not that The Bad Guys or Lightyear were bad movies, I enjoyed them fine, but they weren't really special movies. It really says something that my favourite animated movie of the year, was a film-festival release from 2021. Wendell & Wild is no Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, but it's in the same ballpark. The big issue with animated movies this year is they all seem to play it safe, Minions 2 is a prime example of this, being a movie that offered little in the way of challenge or depth, but offered decent enough entertainment value to make it less of an agonizing sitting. Marcel and Wendell & Wild both offer deeper stories and characters which make them stand out in a year where the best animated movie that wasn't released in a previous year, prior to now has been The Bad Guys, an entertaining movie, but a predictable one.
Wendell & Wild is another child-friendly horror from Henry Selick, but this one is PG-13. There is a stigma around the PG-13 rating now-a-days, since the PG rating has been given to movies with little more than one measly, and not even funny, adult joke. Yes Frozen, everyone will be howling with laughter at a foot-size joke, and while I won't say this imagery is on par with 1980s PG-13 movies, it can still be a lot for young kids. The images of corpses being brought to life, death and some darker themes do warrant this movie not being a standard G rating. On top of that, if anyone knows how to do child friendly horror, it's Henry Selick, Henry "Adapt the Neil Gaiman novel where a monster tries to sew buttons into a child's eyes to steal her soul" Selick. Even if I don't really like Coraline, I respect it immensely. I guess since this one isn't an adaptation like Coraline or James and the Giant Peach, the only thing I have to compare it to is, Henry Selick's other movies, and I think it has earned a spot amongst them all.
On top of that, the soundtrack is fantastic, the minute I heard X-Ray Spex play in the movie, my ears perked up and my hopes were raised. Germ-Free Adolescents is an amazing punk album and if you can, pick up a copy on Vinyl. However, I'm not here to talk about X-Ray Spex, but the rest of the soundtrack has some excellent songs on it. On top of the soundtrack, I also really like the themes of the movie, and I do think they are important for, not just kids, but also adults. Lots of people struggle with traumatic memories, guilt and the fallout of both, so it is nice to see this theme be tackled in a movie that is meant for, not little kids, but slightly older kids, kids who may be going through similar emotions or situations.
What can I really say, this was the kind of movie I needed to watch this year. After so many safe animated movies, I think it was time that Henry Selick and Jordan Peele came in and showed what animation was truly capable of. This was an excellent, risky and poignant movie, and I think... I think... I can't believe I'm saying this but... I think Netflix has the best new animated release of the year. it felt weird to say that, Netflix, the company that put it's name on Animal Crackers of all movies, giving us arguably the best animated movie of the year. Is someone at Netflix reading this blog? Well, doubtful, but The House and Wendell & Wild both released this year, and Nimona is set to release next year, and honestly, my hopes are getting pretty high for Nimona, it does seem Netflix is doing something good. What an absolutely strange feeling.
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