The Stream: A tad bit slow and unoriginal

The Big Screen: Excellent stop-motion animation and a few laughs

The Final Bill: Cool storytelling mixed with excellent animation for a teen family flick

– S2S: Movie Review
Director: Henry Selick
Writers: Henry Selick (screenplay), Jordan Peele (screenplay), Clay McLeod Chapman (based on the book by)
Stars: Lyric Ross (voice), Keegan-Michael Key (voice), Jordan Peele (voice), Angela Bassett (voice)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
Production Companies: Artists First, Gotham Group, Monkeypaw Productions
Platform: Netflix
Coming to Netflix soon: Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (Dec. 2), Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (Dec. 9), Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (fka Knives Out 2) (Dec. 23), They Cloned Tyrone (Dec. 30)

Welcome back, Streamers. You’re fresh off of Halloween season and the last of it lingers in this post. This week we were able to watch a movie released on Netflix titled, Wendell & Wild. This movie is based on an unpublished book by Clay McLeod Chapman and written for the screen by Jordan Peel and Henry Selick. Wendell & Wild is a movie about two demon brothers, Wendell and Wild, scheming their way out of their stuck life. They get the help of troubled 13-year-old, Kat, to summon them to the land of the living in order for their dreams to come true. Teen angst and undead hijinks ensue.

I’ll put it out there – Wendell and Wild is a fun and cute movie led by a top comedic duo. Key and Peele are back at it again with these two demons that look just like them. While not exactly like their show, the banter feels familiar and natural just like remember. You can really feel the influence that Peele had in the writing. And speaking of looking just like them, the animation is similar to Coraline but taken to the next level. Stop-motion animation is a meticulous artwork that has been popular for a minute but definitely only needs to be done by the right people. Henry Selick is the right person. Wendell & Wild is so crisp, clean and imaginative. There is much attention to detail and even originality. Its small things like how a hair or facial features are presented is fresh, interesting, and creative ways. I could literally just watch a documentary on how this movie was filmed and what the creators decided to do in certain scenes.

With that said, the animation is almost more interesting than the actual movie, which is actually a negative. You can get so mesmerized in the look of the movie that you start to forget to listen to what’s going on. Honestly, the storyline isn’t complex or that original to be honest; however, the writing is well thought out, honest and heartfelt. The movie can be a bit slow at times but the animation and the chuckles sprinkled through the movie keep the viewer going. Lastly, the cast all do a really great job. The cast is diverse in many ways and really bring the story to life. Key and Peele obviously do what they do but Angela Bassett, Ving Rhames, Lyric Ross, Sam Zelaya and others each bring life to their characters.

Ultimately, Wendell & Wild is typical teen family movie with superb animation. The storyline isn’t too original but the writing and voice work bring the movie to life. Well, does it bring undead as well? Anyway, Wendell & Wild grab a bowl of popcorn and check out this cute family movie when you get a chance on Netflix. Sidenote: some of y’all need that hair cream… yah looking a little dead out here!