Being from Oregon and living ten minutes from Laika, it’s probably inevitable that I would go see Wildwood at some point. But, wow there was really something poignant about the film based on the Portland-based book—I bought my copy at Powell’s last spring.

It’s a stop-motion animation about a lot of things all at once. First there’s the hook, it’s got teenagers that get wrapped up in a forest adventure. Also it’s gorgeous, Oregon has beautiful scenery and Portland can be quirky and fun. However, the story gets really serious, really fast. This is not Cat in the Hat, Ramona and her Sister, or even Harry Potter. It’s both fantastic and darkly realistic. 

Sometimes children have to deal with the consequences of their parents’ choices. Spoiler alert and trigger warning, it deals with death and violence, both broadly and personally. 

Now, because it’s serious and somewhat scary doesn’t make it something you should automatically not take your kids to. It’s not something you should not take them to without knowing what they will see. Life is serious for them too. Last week, a student brought a gun to my daughter’s high school. We don’t know the details, but it was just a few weeks after a school shooting in Bend. We are all pretty rattled.

There are real problems in the world and pretending that they don’t or won’t affect children is make believe for grownups. One of the factors that drives people to the Pacific Northwest is actively trying to run away from problems. As we all know, you bring your problems with you. 

About halfway through the film, you find out that the parents struggled with fertility issues. My husband and I struggled with fertility issues. We didn’t make a deal with forest witch, but we do make many choices that have long-lasting effects. Our children are affected by where we buy a home, what we do for work, who we vote into power and where we fellowship. They are the ones who have to pay the consequences of we take and what we’re willing to give up.