Shadows on the Wall | Stitch Head

Stitch Head

dir-scr Steve Hudson
prd Sonja Ewers, Mark Mertens
voices Asa Butterfield, Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Alison Steadman, Rob Brydon, Seth Usdenov, Fern Brady, Jamali Maddix, Ryan Sampson, Rasmus Hardiker, Sway Clarke, Gemma Saunders
release US 31.Oct.25,
UK 6.Feb.26
25/UK 1h31

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With a superbly cartoonish designs and a snappy sense of humour, this colourfully animated musical is a playful spin on the Frankenstein story. Writer-director Steve Hudson maintains a wonderfully wacky sensibility throughout the film, with outrageous characters and vividly intense situations. And the warmly emotional undercurrents continually catch us by surprise, creating a resonant story that explores curiosity and how all of us yearn to feel loved.

In Castle Grotteskew, towering over a grey village, a mad professor (Brydon) animates his latest creation, a one-eyed, three-armed furry mashup called Creature (Fry). As the scientist moves onto his next project, his homemade assistant Stitch Head (Butterfield) introduces Creature to "almost life" with the other monsters. Then carny Fulbert (Usdenov) arrives, seeking something scary to add to his travelling circus. Ignored at home, Stitch Head runs away with Fulbert and becomes a hit in the freak show. He also meets intrepid young villager Arabella (Bannon). Meanwhile, Creature descends from the castle to rescue him.

From their earliest memory, the monsters are warned to be terrified of angry mobs of villagers. As his first creation, the professor overlooks Stitch Head in search for something more exciting. But the townsfolk are gleefully terrified by Stitch Head. "They love you," Fulbert explains, counting ticket money while pushing Stitch Head to give audiences more. By contrast, Arabella is genuinely interested in him. And Stitch Head needs to learn who his real friends are.

Hilarious people and creatures fill the screen, and all of them are loveable. Beautifully voiced, the sparky, engagingly complex characters are all wrestling with issues of identity and belonging. Fulbert's ravenous greed blinds him to the people closest to him, but he's silly rather than sinister, staging increasingly elaborate shows around Stitch Head, who becomes addicted to the cheers of his fans. And it's Arabella who teaches him that crowd adoration isn't the same as love.

While the slapstick wackiness often spirals wildly over the top, the deeper feelings are thoroughly involving. It's easy to identify with Stitch Head's search for both his tribe and his own true purpose, so the connections he makes along the way have an unexpected sweetness to them, even as everything is played for laughs. Where the plot goes isn't particularly surprising, but it is a huge amount of fun, and the story and characters have real heart and soul. It's also a great reminder to let out our inner monster and stop being afraid.

themes, violence 27.Oct.25

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