Laika’s First PG-13 Film, Brad Bird’s Neo-Noir and an Alzheimer’s Memoir: Animation’s Revolution Isn’t for Kids

The MPA gave “Wildwood” a PG-13 for “strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity and language,” which is a mouthful for any movie and an especially wild one for a stop-motion picture about a girl hunting for her kidnapped baby brother. It’s the first PG-13 in Laika’s 17 years as a […] Directors of "Wildwood," "Ray Gunn," "Tangles" and more join Variety’s SCAD Savannah panel as animation targets older audiences and Oscars. At SCAD Film Festival, the directors of this year’s animated feature contenders are making films not aimed at children. The MPA gave “Wildwood” a PG-13 for “strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity and language,” which is a mouthful for any movie and an especially wild one for a stop-motion picture about a girl hunting for her kidnapped baby brother.

It’s the first PG-13 in Laika’s 17 years as a feature studio, and at 130 minutes, it ties the record for the longest English-language animated film ever made. Travis Knight, who runs the Portland, Ore., studio and directed “Wildwood,” didn’t land there by accident. Anyone who remembers how dark the back half of “Kubo and the Two Strings” got probably isn’t shocked he