Where the Wild Things Are
Starring: Max Records, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener.
Directed by: Spike Jonze.
Rating: PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language.
Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes.
“Where the Wild Things Are” ended up being, sadly, rather tame.
It seemed hard to go wrong. As far as book adaptations go, the expectations for taking a 10-sentence-long picture book to the big screen are vastly different than condensing an 800-page novel. Where screenwriters paring down a large text need to interpret and slice out scenes that readers know and cherish, it seemed that the beloved “Wild Things” would merely need an expansion.
And with author/illustrator Maurice Sendak himself in collaboration with director Spike Jonze, the movie was set to not only remain faithful to the book, but also to fully explore the book’s inherent feelings of childhood, imagination and freedom.
So what went wrong?
The film had a promising opening. Talented young actor Max Records seemed born for the role of the impetuous Max. His performance alone is reason enough to see the movie. “Wild Things” starts off strong, immediately throwing the older members of the audience into nostalgia.
The audience is with Max from the beginning, from the playfulness of a good snowball fight to the sadness of a ruined fort and the subsequent anger.
If the movie had ended after just these 10 minutes, it would have been an undeniable masterpiece.
Instead, Jonze begins to ruin things by introducing the “divorced parents” subplot. After that, Max’s outbursts suddenly take on the tint of “well, he’s acting out because his parents are divorced,” instead of “he’s acting out because he’s a kid.”
So when Max gets in trouble with his mother (who is frustrated with Max for embarrassing her in front of a gentleman friend) and runs away, the audience is almost inclined to think the divorce is why he is running away.
Introduce the “Wild Things” — sort of. Soon after being introduced to the creatures of the island, I found myself wondering “Just where ARE the Wild Things?”
I suppose if you think of the Wild Things as loving, relationship-capable, fuzzy emotional wrecks, then you won’t be disappointed.
But for those of us who pictured the Wild Things as, well, wild, you may want to see what else is playing.
With names like Carol, Ira, Douglas and KW, the “monsters” don’t really send off an intimidating vibe.
In fact, the Wild Things are more like adults in gigantic monster garb who act more like kids than anything “monstrous.”
When Max arrives, he finds the Wild Thing Carol upset that another Wild Thing, KW, has other friends. To alleviate his anger, Carol tosses his friends about and destroys their makeshift houses.
Finding this behavior suitable to his taste, Max unabashedly charges in and begins helping Carol.
When confronted by the other Wild Things, Max conjures up a story of his past kingdom and is crowned King of the Wild Things.
The rest of the film plays out as a group therapy session, as Max and Carol both try to cope with their feelings of abandonment.
One thing that Jonze did get right (other than the casting of Max Records) is to resist the urge of animation. Had this movie been animated, it would have been a total mess. Instead, the film masquerades as a deep, plot-driven movie while distracting the audience with cool costumes.
In the end, the unfortunate truth is that the movie seemed more like an opportunity for Jonze to explore whatever issues with divorce he may have and to project those into a “kids film” rather than to actually make a movie about the “Wild Things.” A very disappointing adaptation.
For any considering going to see the movie, I would recommend going to the library instead and borrowing the book.
2 1/2 of 5 stars
As someone who went to see this movie with a person who has read the children's book and loved it when they were little, I did not know what to expect. I had never read the book myself and so I had to keep on asking him "Did this happen in the book? What about this?". The split parents and group therapy session - I think you are dead-on. But, I tend to disagree that The Wild Things were not wild. In fact, I think it was great that they "acted like kids". The way in which the monsters were deeply characterized with attributes of a child, and the way that Max could see himself in them, made the movie for me.
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