Wendell & Wild review: Funny, frisky and fully imagined

Whether or not these twists can be attributed to co-writer Jordan Peele (Get Out, Nope), the results benefit from an infusion of social commentary and a spirit of inclusivity. Alongside unexpected critiques of the prison industrial complex, a welcome emphasis on diversity in the heroine’s classmates and elsewhere helps broaden Selick’s horizons.

Said heroine is Kat, winningly voiced by Lyric Ross as a troubled teenager. Keeping her feelings safety-pinned up inside, Kat lost her parents as a kid – a tragedy she blames herself for. Buffeted between schools, she is transferred to a “break the cycle” Catholic institution in run-down Rust Bank, where all is not as it seems.

The school’s Father Bests (James Hong) colludes with entrepreneurial types, who are intent on milking the profits from an inhumane business plan. And Angela Bassett’s nun clearly has her own spooky secrets.

Meanwhile, where other animated films might treat grief as a springboard for sorrow and sentiment, Selick and Peele have alternative ideas. Kat has demons – and her demons have names. Meet Wendell (Keegan-Michael Key) and Wild (Jordan Peele), daffy underworld denizens who live inside the nostrils of out-sized monster Buffalo Belzer (Ving Rhames).

Typically, Wendell and Wild toil away squirting Belzer with magic hair cream to prevent baldness – until they realise that Kat could be their ticket to the overground.

While that sounds like plenty to be getting on with, Selick’s visuals elevate the material. His (under)world-building bustles with detail, from livid colour schematics to the Oogie Boogie-ish Belzer, who has a funfair on his belly.

Above ground, the colours are initially muted to reflect Kat’s moods, though Selick soon adds fresh flavours to the mix. The whole screen seems to ooze out at the edges, spilling over with lurid purples and squashed creepy-crawly innards.

Connoisseur-ish needle-drops from Fishbone, the Specials, Poly Styrene/X-Ray Spex, TV on the Radio, Hot Chocolate and others help keep proceedings lively, though the action becomes a little overly busy at times.

Drawing from a book he co-wrote with Clay McLeod Chapman, Selick leaves no ingredient on the chopping board. He’s waited long enough to make the film, after all, but it is sometimes hard not to miss the elegant simplicity that Neil Gaiman’s trim source novella brought to Coraline.

Still, the narrative of a girl struggling to adapt to both new environs and eerie incursions links Wendell & Wild neatly to Selick’s earlier film. Like Coraline’s blue hair and yellow mac, Kat’s punk garb may become a dress-up hit at children’s Halloween parties, too.

Further ameliorating factors include Selick’s reserves of invention, which hold the attention even when the plot’s convolutions become unwieldy – if you were to needlessly peel back Selick’s scalp and scoop out the contents, they would surely resemble the secret storeroom of bottled demons one character harbours here.

The plucked harps and fiendish chorales of Bruno Coulais’ score add further pleasures. And if these devilish delights for eyes and ears are not enough, what other tween-friendly horror features climactic confrontations with bulldozers over a callous business proposition?

Selick and Peele’s best trick is to make the villains human, a neat twist in a film that sides squarely with the punks, freaks and naughty devils.

Wendell & Wild is released on Netflix on Friday 28th October 2022. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix – or see what else is on with our TV Guide.

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