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”).

The mature nature of the inciting incident feels reminiscent of the heart-rending Swiss stop-motion gem “My Life as a Zucchini,” but soon “Wonderwoods” arrives at a familiar, if still charming, place that’s more squarely family-friendly than tonally audacious. To see Grandma before it’s too late, the family travels by car — Angelo has a pair of siblings,...