Wildwood

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Wildwood
• a review of Wildwood completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 27 October 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Like many teenagers, Prue McKeel (voice of Peyton Elizabeth Lee) thinks she knows better than her parents. She thinks their hippie stories about dark forests and dark secrets, and places where people were never meant to go, are just tales meant to scare kids. When they leave her in charge of her baby brother Mack, Prue promises to keep him inside. But as soon as her parents have left, Prue takes Mack to the playground, something she has done before, only this time it is different. This time, Curtis (voice of Jacob Tremblay), a boy from school with a crush on her, tags along and an army of crows converge on the area, lifting Mack high into the air and carrying him deep into the forbidden forest. Determined to save her brother, Prue follows and Curtis, determined to prove he is not useless to Prue, comes too. The pair are soon separated when they encounter a pack of coyote soldiers working for a grieving and twisted woman known as the Dowager Governess Alexandra (voice of Carey Mulligan) who, in her efforts to find the body of her child, is inadvertently orchestrating a war with different groups within the mystical realm of Wildwood. Curtis winds up being Alexandra’s prisoner when he realises the lengths she is willing to go to in order to reclaim her son. Meanwhile, Prue must traverse the kingdom, navigate shifting political landscapes, and win the trust of bandits as well as multiple magical figures in order to outmanoeuvre Alexandra. Ultimately, Prue is forced to grow from an ordinary teenager into a courageous leader, risking her life in a massive battle to save her baby brother and reunite her family.

Grief; Suicide; Trauma; Children separated from parents and families; War; Betrayal; Corruption; Magic; Revenge.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Prue and Mack are nearly hit by traffic.
• Prue and Curtis are nearly hit by multiple cars, trucks and a train as she pedals furiously on her bike and Curtis, stuck in the cart behind her, knocks into people and things. As Prue pedals straight down a steep hill, Curtis screams: “We are going to die!” Shortly thereafter, a train bears down on them and they are nearly killed as they chase the birds through fog and mist but Prue manages to steer them off the tracks a moment before impact.
• A flock of evil-looking crows swoop down and grab Mack, carrying him away while Prue desperately chases after him. At one point, the crows drop Mack and he plummets down towards the town below before the crows catch him in their beaks again and disappear into the forest.
• A coyote captain attacks another coyote.
• Prue is nearly hit by a mail truck and a coyote is struck down.
• A large bird suddenly jumps on top of the truck that Prue is travelling in. Other birds begin to attack the truck as well.
• Prue is held hostage in the tower of a mansion where she goes to get help for her brother.
• Curtis says to the coyotes: “Let’s go kill some bandits.”
• Curtis and the coyotes come across a battlefield with human bodies and coyote corpses lying all over the ground. One man is still alive and Alexandra tells Curtis to kill him. Curtis can’t do it so Alexandra takes a sword and plunges it into the man’s chest.
• The staff of an entire mansion chase Prue as she tries to escape. At one point, a big bronze bird falls and pins a few of her pursuers to the ground. Prue runs onto the roof, slips and falls, hitting trees on her way down and landing in a carriage.
• When an owl who helps Prue is captured, she is told that he will get imprisonment or worse.
• Crows attack Prue and a large bird that she is riding. Coyotes begin to chase them and one jumps onto the back of the bird as it is flying and tries to bite and attack Prue.
• Prue tries to fight off an army of birds. She shoots an arrow and one bird explodes in a ball of feathers.
• The bird Prue is riding is shot in the chest with an arrow and both she and Prue plummet from the sky to the forest floor below. The bird is dead and Prue is taken hostage by the coyotes, who restrain her and threaten to eat her head right off her body.
• Curtis and other prisoners are kept in hanging cages above jagged rocks.
• Coyotes fight each other with swords.
• Alexandra grabs a coyote’s snout and squeezes it ruthlessly.
• Coyotes shoot and kill 3 prisoners in the cages, leaving their bodies to rot as their extremities dangle from the bars.
• Alexandra plans to sacrifice Mack to bring her son back.
• Mack screams as Alexandra carries him while leading an army of coyotes to war.
• Alexandra sent coyotes to burn the forests where people lived.
• Entire communities are terrified that Alexandra will awaken the ivy, as the ivy will choke the life out of everything it touches and kill them all.
• A lady slaps Prue.
• A coyote army with guns, swords and bayonets shoots at people.
• Arrows are shot into the coyote army and both humans and coyotes begin to fall on the battlefield.
• Two sides clash as people and coyotes are sliced, punched, hit, stabbed or run through with axes, swords and knives.
• Crows join the attack and are pecking at the humans.
• A man rips a crow in half.
• A man is carried away by the crows and then dropped onto rocks from a great height.
• Other birds join the fight and soon the air is filled with beating wings and feathers until the crows are finally chased off.
• Cannon balls explode on the battlefield, blasting people up into the air or killing them on the spot.
• A character is stabbed in the eye.
• Another person thrusts a knife at someone’s chest and then stabs him in the head.
• Characters are beheaded and Prue runs into the thick of the fight when she catches sight of Mack.
• A man is shot in the chest.
• A vicious coyote chases after Prue.
• Curtis is knocked out and is then forced to kill a coyote.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Prue occasionally suffers from nightmares. There is terrible howling and sometimes upsetting images.
• As Prue’s father describes the forest, there are images of animals and beasts with glowing eyes and sinister, menacing-looking faces.
• Ivy is shown curling around the skeleton of a boy.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Prue and Curtis are chased by a ferocious pack of coyotes, who are growling and snarling as they close in on the teens. There are close ups of the aggressive teeth-filled snouts and drool-covered fangs as they prepare to attack. The scene is extremely intense with Curtis preparing to sacrifice himself so that Prue can get her brother.
• A coyote is struck down while chasing Prue and he disappears from the road to suddenly pound against the window of the van in which she is sitting. There is a jump scare as his bloody, murderous face suddenly fills the window. He manages to gain access and is about to attack Prue when she manages to kick him out of the van.
• A story is told about how Alexandra and her husband lost their 12-year-old son while they were riding in the woods. The child is depicted falling off a cliff into the forest below when the horse bucks. His parents searched for months but never found his body. Alexandra, in her despair, looked at magic and turned to the dark arts to bring her boy back, but she was only ever able to make a mechanical replica of her dead son. When this boy learned the truth of what he was, he took his own life, ripping the mechanical heart out of his chest and jumping off a balcony. Alexandra was arrested and wound up in the darkest parts of the woods, where she is determined to use innocent blood to make the woods give her back her son.
• Before Prue was born, her parents made a deal with Alexandra. They met her on a foggy night and agreed to her conditions that they would keep their first child and that the second child would belong to Alexandra.
• There is a jump scare as a vicious coyote tries to stop Prue from reaching Alexandra who is about to sacrifice Mack. He grabs Prue as she scales a boulder and drags her back to the ground where it looks like he is trying to bite her head off. Curtis kills him with a sword before her can kill Prue, and blood is splattered across her face.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• Alexandra’s 12-year-old son takes his own life. He removes his clothes and walks out to the balcony in the rain. His mother is pounding on his bedroom door begging him to open it. By the time she manages to get inside, he is on the balustrade. He rips something out of his own chest, glances back while black tears fall from his eyes, and then he jumps to his death on the stones below.
• Alexandra is determined to sacrifice Mack. She has him on a sacrificial alter and is determined to take his life. She raises a dagger over his chest repeatedly, while he screams and Prue does everything in her power to rescue him. Prue blocks the knife with her hands and her blood awakens the ivy. A woman is stabbed through the chest and Mack, Prue and Alexandra are swallowed by the ivy before Prue is able to control it and the ivy takes Alexandra.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• One coyote accurses another of peeing on a fire. A coyote then sits down and begins licking his crotch.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• An adolescent boy is shown naked from behind as he steps out of his robe and onto the balcony. He stands on the railing as his mother calls to him through the locked bedroom door. Black tears fall from his eyes as he rips something from his chest and jumps from the balcony to his death on the stone patio below. His bare backside is shown as a crowd gathers around his lifeless body.
• Two characters kiss.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Prue is warned about tea leaves she is meant to drink. She then saves the leaves and later, brews a tea for her parents in order to knock them out.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Son of a bitch
• Hell
• Damn
• Witch
• Stupid
• Psycho
• Shut your yap
• Loser
• Demon
• Suck it up
• Stupid old fool
• Toad
• Flatulent parasite
• Poo poo
• Satanic symbols are mentioned.

In a nutshell

Wildwood is a very dark fantasy film, using both stop motion animation and digital visual effects. The film is based on the novel by Colin Meloy and, due to the mature themes and violence, is best suited to audiences over the age of 14.

The main messages from this movie are that that it is OK to need help; that we can’t do everything on our own; that sometimes you have to know when to let go; and that a family’s love can give you the courage to face your greatest fears.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Courage
• Love
• Determination
• Persistence
• Hope

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Betraying those you are meant to love.
• Allowing grief to consume and twist you, causing you to take actions you otherwise may not have considered.
• The abuse of power and the misuse of democracy.
• Using violence and fear to get what you want

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of talking with others and keeping lines of communication open so that help can be given if someone is struggling with mental health or suicidal ideations.