Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Review:

This is perhaps the best feature length film adaptation of a children’s book I have ever seen. That is not to say it is one of the best adaptations of any work ever – but among its class it reigns supreme. Think of the Dr. Seuss adaptations “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000) and “The Cat in the Hat” (2003). Despicable. They make me want to hurl, wipe my mouth and then go read the originals. They do not capture the fun or the heart of either childrens’ classics. They’re just needlessly weird and stretched too thin.

Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” succeeds where those two movies failed. It triumphantly converts a ten sentence book by Maurice Sendak into a 100 minute film that explores and celebrates what it means to be a kid.

Everyone knows the story from the book. Max misbehaves and is sent to bed without dinner. He then imagines his way on over into the land of the Wild Things where he is declared their king, and then returns home. The film follows that basic format but Spike Jonzes and writer David Eggers have augmented the story to include what happens when Max becomes King of the Wild Things - they build a fort.

The Wild Things are an impressive synthesis of CGI and costumes. They are voiced by the likes of James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker, and Lauren Ambrose and they are brought to life with distinct personalities and character flaws. The Wild Things do not operate as rational creatures. They are prone to mood swings and sometimes dangerous tantrums.

What I liked most about this movie is how it operates under the parameters of a child’s knowledge of the world. Though the film largely takes place in Max’s imagination, his imagination is not limitless. Max can only imagine what he understands about life and the world and wild things. For instance, when he and the Wild Things build the fort, they make it from materials that any child could employ to make a fort – namely sticks and mud.

The Wild Things also exhibit an array of emotions that make no logical sense. They are gripped with the sadness and rage that a child can observe but not interpret. In this way, the Wild Things come to represent all that is scary, wondrous, and unexplainable about the world in the eyes of a child, and for that matter, for the rest of us.

Rating:

On a scale of one to Casablanca, this film is a "Jurassic Park"

Rationalization:

"Where the Wild Things Are" is effective not because it is the most clever film of our time, but because it evokes a deep rooted nostalgia for what it was like to be a child - and not just the the good memories. The Wild Things are an impeccable integration of CGI and costume. Though they look like no creatures on this earth they looked real enough to believe in and that is all that matters when it comes to movies.