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‘Into the Wonderwoods’ Review: Charming, Yet Familiar Toon Follows Young Angelo in a Fantastical Realm

Co-directors Vincent Paronnaud and Alexis Ducord’s ‘Into the Wonderwoods’ conjure an eye-catching but not-so-original animated children’s story.

One chaotic morning, as his mother struggles to concentrate on a work call and his father fumbles breakfast, that Angelo (voiced by Dario Hardouin Spurio), a rowdy young boy with a pronounced rectangular-shaped head and an even bigger imagination, learns his grandmother (Yolande Moreau) has fallen ill with a slim chance of recovery. The life-changing news propels the innocuous French animated feature “ Into the Wonderwoods,” which Oscar-nominated artist and filmmaker Vincent Paronnaud(“Persepolis”) adapted from his own 2016 comic book (published under the nom de plume Winshluss) and co-directed with Alexis Ducord(“Zombillenium”). This villain’s personality and antics, and the film’s overall arc to save the forest and get Angelo to his grandmother, render “Into the Wonderwoods” overly familiar even as the filmmakers attempt to distinguish themselves from other similar stories (about a child entering a magical place with fairytale rules and residents) told in the same medium.

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