Review of Where the Wild Things Are (2009) by Brandon W — 16 Jun 2012

If I had to pick someone to direct a live action adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book Where the Wild Things Are I have to admit my first choice would not be Spike Jonze. Jonze has proved himself one of the strangest and most innovative directors of his day, mostly for his work with brilliant and strange screenwriter Charlie Kaufman but prior to Wild Things he'd hardly proved himself in the domain of simple and straightforward story telling which is probably what you at least want to aim for when doing a movie whose target audience like it or not is little kids. But after nearly three decades of being in the works Jonze was the one who finally brought the product to the big screen for better or worse a feat that in and of itself is worthy of praise. Originally to be made by the Disney most of the films planned adaptations were to be animated with such esteemed animators as Pixar's John Lasseter at one point or another being attached to the project. But in 2003 the idea was dropped when Universal picked up Jonze proposed live action adaptation which despite having a teaser released was eventually cancelled due to disputes with Sendak himself. Warner Brothers picked up a new script from Jonze and Dave Eggers in 2005 luckily, and by 2008 began filming with Max Records as Max, Jim Henson studios animatronic suits for the wild things and with close consultation with Maurice Sendak himself. The film took six months in post production to perfect with CGI tweaks for the Wild Things expressions and certain effects done, and Warner Brothers expressed concern the film was not family friendly enough but under pressure from Jonze and Sendak himself it was finally released uncut and seemed to split audiences down the middle over the very issue executives thought it would. So who was right in this situation? Let's take a look I could eat up I love it so.

As in the book the movie begins with Max (Max Records, perfect right down to the name) a little boy with a vivid imagination and a bitchin' wolf costume. In a short span of time we learn how Max is impulsive, angry and loving as children are want to be and leads a normal if somewhat lonely life with his sister and single Mom (Catherine Keener, shes cool for how little she's in it). However one night while his mother has company over (Mark Ruffalo in an interesting cameo) Max embarrasses her with one of his fits of childishness and runs away ashamed and upset. He finds a sailboat and leaves his home beyond leaving for a far away island where other wild things are. Once he arrives on the island the movie noticeably departs from its ten sentence source material, as we learn about how each wild thing designed after the characters from the book is a part of Max. He declares himself the Wild Things King and sets forth to rule them,indulging in his imaginative play on an island only constrained by his imagination and the workings of Max's young mind. Max's threatened however by Carol (James Gandolfini, in a role somewhat reminiscent of his iconic performance as Tony Soprano) is the wildest and most impulsive and childish both most prone to silly mirth, fits of anger and moments of sad reflection. As Max is feeling that part of him being left behind as he grows older he latches on to Carol who becomes his best friend among the wild things but Carol's wild side could bode ill for Max later on. Naturally Max grows and after playing with each Wild Thing tearfully bids farewell and returns back home to find his soup still warm.

I hope none of that came as a huge surprise, the movie garnered a lot of criticism for being dark but it still followed the children's book we all read and know the arc and ending too. But I also hope that didn't give the impression that a solid story was the main purpose of the film. Rather than telling a rigid and stable narrative the film is more about visually representing Max's inner and even outer turmoils as he grows up through strange beasts each of which represents a part of his personality and collective whole and whose interactions are the stuff Freudian fans dream about. Carol as stated is Max is childish behavior the wonder and craziness of it, KW (voiced smoothly by Lauren Ambrose) is his burgeoning sense of responsibility and obligation, Ira (voiced by the fantastic Forrest Whittaker) is the side of Max that is meek and easily controlled by others, Alexander (voiced by the criminally underrated Paul Dano) is the whiny and needy side of Max and so on. Each holds a place within him, but each he must learn to control in the real world and to put it simply Max must learn not to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Conveying all this and more is essentially what the movie aims to accomplish through Jonze and Eggers screenplay rather than telling some fantastical tale of Max and his imaginary friends and with the dark tinged whimsy of the script which brilliantly plays like a dialogue of Max's psychosis it accomplishes just that. Aided by some stunning if not mind blowing visuals and Jonze is immersive handheld but not too shaky camera work the movie is one of the most unique and heartfelt coming of age stories I've ever experienced and I've read and seen quite a few.

I can't say this movie fairly covers the book it's adapting, it's different in its goals, execution and changes much to better suit its more complex framework. But it doesn't need to be an exact replica to be a good movie, and this is definitely a good movie. This tugged on my heartstrings in a way no movie featuring guys in animatronic suits with CGI faces should, through Jonze distinctive imagining of the world, the sharp and refreshing script and some really solid voice actors to complement those magnificent giant puppets. Not to mention a wonderful soundtrack from the incomparable Karen O. Where the Wild Things Are is a movie that should be touching to all and is one of my favorites of recent years, a film that will make the child at heart tear up and is just dark enough to take a child audience seriously without going completely over their heads. I highly recommend to everyone of all ages who has a soul and a wild thing inside them.