Laika Submits 'Better Part of Bravery' from 'Wildwood' to Oscars

Laika will submit "The Better Part of Bravery," the end-credits song performed by The Decemberists in the animated feature "Wildwood," for consideration in the original song category at the Academy Awards. The film premieres worldwide at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday and opens in U.S., Canadian, U.K. and Irish cinemas on Oct. 23, the same day Decca Records releases its 28-track soundtrack.

What is the song?

"The Better Part of Bravery" was written by Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy, who also authored the debut novel "Wildwood" on which the film draws. The track closes the picture, accompanying audiences as they leave the film's central forest. The Decemberists also recorded two bonus cuts for the soundtrack: "Bandit Kind" and "Alexandra's Lullaby."

Meloy said: "'Wildwood' has been part of my life for many years and seeing the story transformed like this has been an extraordinary experience. Writing the song for the end credits gave me a chance to return to the world of 'Wildwood' in a different way. There's something particularly meaningful about having music accompany the audience as they leave the forest and the story comes to a close."

Who is behind the film?

"Wildwood" marks the second directorial feature from Travis Knight, whose debut was the 2016 stop-motion film "Kubo and the Two Strings." Chris Butler, writer and director of 2012's "ParaNorman," wrote the screenplay. Peyton Elizabeth Lee voices protagonist Prue McKeel; Jacob Tremblay voices her classmate Curtis Mehlberg. Composer Dario Marianelli supplies the score.

The album opens with "The Impassable Wilderness" and closes with "Homecoming" before the credits roll into "The Better Part of Bravery" and the two Decemberists bonus tracks.

What does Laika say about the music?

David Burke, Laika's chief marketing and operations officer and an executive producer on "Wildwood," framed the music as central to the production's identity. He said: "Music has always been part of the DNA of 'Wildwood,' so bringing together Dario Marianelli's extraordinary score and new songs from The Decemberists feels like a natural extension of the world Colin Meloy first imagined. Dario has given the film a sweeping emotional and cinematic scale, while Colin's music brings the story full circle. Together, they've created something that is both deeply personal and epic in its ambition — a remarkable musical expression of the world of 'Wildwood.'"

What is the story?

The film follows Prue McKeel, a Portland, Oregon teenager who enters the Impassable Wilderness — an unseen realm of talking animals, bandits and grief-stricken power brokers — after a murder of crows abducts her infant brother. With Curtis at her side, Prue moves through a conflict that threatens the forest itself.

What does this open up?

The picture opens the planned "Wildwood Chronicles" franchise drawn from Meloy's novels, with Marianelli's score running beneath Meloy's songs. The BFI London Film Festival premiere on Sunday precedes the Oct. 23 theatrical and soundtrack launches, placing the film in the early awards conversation before its wide release. The submission lands as Meloy's literary world and Marianelli's orchestral scale reach audiences together for the first time.