Review of Where the Wild Things Are (2009) by Michael V — 17 Nov 2011

Two things become very clear upon the first few moments of the movie. A: This is a Spike Jonze movie. No doubt. The camera angles and art direction. All 100% his. He owns this movie. His little signitures are all over it.

B: This is not a child's movie. You start out with Max wearing his wolf custume chasing and tackling his dog with a fork while screaming like a madman. That being said Where the Wild Things are is a well written, intelligent, and very cold drama about the often challenging interactions within a closed group of people, the complexities of leadership and the cost of selfishness.

It's not a movie about imagination or childhood at all, and it's only concerned with themes of growing up, family and maturity. It's not wacky or funny. Not colorful or exciting. There's only about 10 minutes of what I'd call "fun" in the whole 2-hour package.

That doesn't make Where the Wild Things Are a bad movie. It just makes it completely defiant of the viewer's expectations, and thus a rather confusing film to watch. It is such an odd movie! And yet, when it was over, I found my self loving it.

The expansion of the tiny story into a feature-length film is so subtle that you barely sense it happening. There isn't an artificial new plot laid over the bones of the original -- it's simply expanded at every turn and very gently stretched out to feature length.

The voice performances are wonderful, and the costumes are magnificent. Loved the creature features which are part make-up and outfit effects while the faces and more complex motions are CGI. Which blended together quite wonderfully.

Something George Lucas should pay attention too.