History WesternAnimation / WendellAndWild

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Klaxons kill Father Bests after he reminds them that [[spoiler:he vouched for them after they were (rightfully) accused of starting the brewery fire so they would continue funding RBC]]. They weren't taking any chances of the possibility of him betraying them.

* WingedHumanoid: In the trailer, Wild is shown to have tiny but functional bat wings on his back.

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Manberg claims he's carrying out justice by luring and trapping demons. Helley retorts that he's really just trying to pad out his collection.
* NumerologicalMotif: Many of the antagonistic forces in the film come in sets of two, or are associated with the number. The worm Kat found in her candy apple when she was eight had two heads, Wendell and Wild are the last two of Buffalo Belzer’s sons, Raul’s art project depicts a mother defending her child from a two-headed sea monster, and the Klaxons are associated with a two-headed dragon.
* NunsAreSpooky: Downplayed with Sister Helley. [[spoiler:She has supernatural powers but she isn't evil.]]

* AerithAndBob: The titular characters. [[spoiler: Wendell seems even more out of place amongst his other siblings.]]

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Lane and Siobhan Klaxon. [[spoiler: Lane's hair at least is a wig.]]

** In this film Selick dusted off the concept of the afterlife looking like an AmusementParkOfDoom he already showed in ''Film/{{Monkeybone}}'', on top of more characters with a Cubism-inspired design. Both films also have a tragic car accident kicking off the plot.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even the literal Hell demons are horrified by the Klaxtons' private prison business model, likely because they’ve been imprisoned themselves.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler:Shortly before being introduced to Wendell and Wild, the titular purple demons caricaturing Series/KeyAndPeele, we see a purplish, two-headed worm pop out of an eight-year-old Kat's candy apple. One of the worm's heads is rounded and plump, while the other is sharper and more angular.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Lane and Irmgard Klaxon have been trying to buy up all of Rust Bank for years so they can build a private prison. When the Elliots refused to sell their brewery, they burned it down with all the workers inside and were able to cover it up. [[spoiler: They get their comeuppance when the dead brewery workers are brought back to life to testify against them (with the same magic hair cream they bribed had Wendell and Wild use to revive the old guard city council members), and are sent to prison for their crimes]].

* ActorAllusion: Father Bests' new 'makeover' courtesy of Wendell & Wild, bares a subtle similarity to David Lo-Pan from ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'', who was also played by Creator/JamesHong.

** In this film Selick dusted off the concept of the afterlife looking like an AmusementParkOfDoom he already showed in ''WesternAnimation/{{Monkeybone}}'', on top of more characters with a Cubism-inspired design. Both films also have a tragic car accident kicking off the plot.

* GoshDarnItToHeck: Zigzagged. For some reason, Beezler refers to the denizens of hell as the "souls of the danged"... When words like "ass" and the ''actual word'' "damn" are used.

** When Buffalo Belzer [[spoiler:comes to the surface]], he yells, "Fee, Fie, foh, fum! I smell the blood of two thieving bums!" Considering Wendell and Wild [[spoiler:stole his magic hair cream and fled to earth]], that makes them reminiscent of Jack and he the Giant.

** Raul's art project involves a giant mural painted on the roofs of many houses, which will only appear when the snow melts. [[spoiler:When Belzar comes for Wendell and Wild, he's so furious with them he seems ready to physically harm them... only for the snow to melt with the rising sun and for him to see a mural of parent protecting their child. This melts his own cold and hard exterior, as he realizes that he loves his sons under it all, and his imprisoning them was a misguided way to protect them from disappearing like their other siblings did before them.]]

** Like most of Creator/HenrySelick's films, it involves a small town with lots of cloud cover, craggy hills, dead trees, and the whole community built around one gimmick. In ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', that gimmick was Halloween. In ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'', James' hometown was briefly a tourist hot spot for the said giant peach. In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', the town her family moved to is very proud of its annual Shakespeare Festival. In ''Wendell & Wild'', Rust Bank Brewery was the heart and soul of the town until it burned down, and what's left of it resists being converted to a Klax Korp prison town.

* RuleOfSymbolism: A two-headed worm. [[spoiler:It starts off as just an unusually deformed worm Kat finds in her candy apple when she's younger, but it goes on to represent the Klaxons and their corruption. Kat's initial vision of the future of Rust Bank depicts the worm- now a fire-breathing dragon with the same yellow hair as the Klaxons- rising from the prison they intend to build. Raul's mural depicts an ancient Mayan warrior defending their child from a giant two-headed sea monster (also with yellow hair), and when Kat shares her vision of Rust Bank's changed future with her parents, the logo of the new brewery depicts Kat's parents ripping off the heads of the worm.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even the literal Hell demons are horrified by the Klaxtons' private prison business model.

** The Klaxon's villainous plot involves having Wendell and Wild resurrect the deceased "Old Guard" members of the town council so that they can finally have the votes to have the town demolished for their prison. While the film handwaves this by having one of the zombie councilmen point out that all living council members are entitled to a vote, realistically there would be questions of their status as members of the council as well as their identities.

* AlmightyJanitor: Manberg, the wheelchair-bound janitor at RBC, is also secretly a demon Hunter who collects demons in jars.

* TrappedInASinkingCar: The main trailer reveals that this is how Kat's parents died, with only Kat herself managing to escape the vehicle and be pulled to safety.
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Even when they try to be scary and malicious, Wendell and Wild fail miserably. They strongarm Raul a couple of times, but but the worst they do is tie him up at one point (which he easily escapes from and [[spoiler:lock him in a cage where he constantly gets licked in the face by Sparky). When they try to put Kat's parents back in their graves, the two laugh at their cartoon mallets and easily push them away with their legs, claiming Kat was scarier when she was ''three''.]]

** The ornament on the radio antennae of the Juvenile Justice van that drives Kat back into Rust Bank is [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Jack Skellington's head]]. The same head can be glimpsed in the end credits as well.
** Father Bests' new 'makeover' courtesy of Wendell & Wild, bares a subtle similarity to David Lo-Pan from ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'', who was also played by James Hong.

Wendell and Wild (voiced by Key and Peele respectively) are a pair of scheming demon brothers who strike a deal with a troubled teenager named Kat Elliot (Lyric Ross) to escape the underworld to the Land of the Living. Along the way, the group will have to contend with a nun by the name of Sister Helley (Creator/AngelaBassett) as Kat comes face-to-face with her past.

** Buffalo Belzar has imprisoned his two sons Wendell and Wild "for life" due to their theme park idea, forced them to wear InstitutionalAttire and makes them continually regrow his hair, which is framed as prison labor. They understandably chafe under his yolk and wish to leave. [[spoiler:Only after he has a HeelRealization and agrees to respect their ideas do they decide to go home.]]

** Kat and Raul are a gender-inverted BroodingBoyGentleGirl, with the girl being a brash, determined, spitfire with dyed hair and the boy more gentle, meek, and submissive. Much like ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' and Wyborne.
** Like most of Creator/HenrySelick's films, it's set in a small town with lots of cloud cover, craggy hills, dead trees, and the whole community built around one gimmick. In ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', that gimmick was Halloween. In ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'', James' hometown was briefly a tourist hot spot for the said giant peach. In ''WesternAnimation/Coraline'', the town her family moved to is very proud of its annual Shakespeare Festival. In ''Wendell & Wild'', Rust Bank Brewery was the heart and soul of the town until it burned down, and what's left of it resists being converted to a Klax Korp prison town.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Lane and Irmgard Klaxon have been trying to buy up all of Rust Bank for years so they can build a private prison. When the Elliots refused to sell their brewery, they burned it down with all the workers inside and were able to cover it up. [[spoiler: They get their comeuppance when the dead brewery workers are brought back to life to testify against them, and are sent to prison for their crimes]].

* PunnyName: Sister ''Helley''. At first it seems like an ironic name for a nun, but she is also a hell maiden like Kat.

* CentralTheme: Imprisonment, or denying living beings their freedom for unjust reasons.
** Buffalo Belzer has sentenced his two sons Wendell and Wild "for life" due to their theme park idea and makes them continually regrow his hair.
** Manberg and Sister Helley are revealed to have [[spoiler:summoned and imprisoned many demons, which Manberg keeps in jars on his shelf as part of his collection. Helley eventually realized what they were doing wasn't justice, but entrapping and inprisoning demons just to grow Manberg's personal collection. When Belzer reveals he lost all his other children to the human world, Manberg eventually realizes he essentially kidnapped and lets them return home with their dad.]]

** The Klaxtons' private prison business model involves packing as many people into their prisons as possible and providing as poor and cheap care as they can to save money. They also [[InherentInTheSystem intentionally rig local education and judicial justice systems]] to send as many people back to prison as possible.

* CreatorThumbprint: Manberg is a wheelchair-using MadScientist, much like Dr. Finkelstein in Creator/HenrySelick's earlier film ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''. He's far more heroic than Finkelstein though.

* CentralTheme: Imprisonment, or denying living beings their freedom for unjust reasons. Also, packing as many

* FairytaleMotifs: The orphanage in Kat's flashback in the trailer resembles a giant boot, and is run by an old woman - as in the story of the old woman who lives in a shoe. The sign out front even indicates that it's called the Mother Goose Children's Group Home.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Lane and Siobhan Klaxon.