Movie review: Where the Wild Things Are

Movie review: Where the Wild Things Are

Maybe I should start this off with a disclaimer: I was never one of those kids that was obsessed with this book, which may have colored my movie experience. Don't get me wrong, after seeing the HBO special Maurice Sendak seems like an interesting cat, and Spike Jonze is one of my favorite directors. It's just that I didn't have an emotional attachment to the story and really couldn't get into the movie, even if on paper it was amazing.

By now everyone knows the story: Max is a rambunctious little boy that gets into a fight with his mother. He runs away to the Land of the Wild Things (via his imagination in the book, literally in the movie) and promptly declares himself King of the Wild Things. This is where things diverge, as needed in order to turn a 48 page book into a 100 minute movie.

The movie progresses with lots of very Spike Jonze dialog (there were a couple times it almost seemed like self-parody) from the Wild Things. Soon Max's relationship with them begins to mirror his relationship with his family. Max learns his lesson and returns home.

And... well, that's about it. There's not a whole lot of conflict in the movie. Drama, yes, but no conflict. I'm not saying that they needed to add ninjas and espionage to the movie; I'm just saying that because of the flow of the movie, I couldn't get too engaged.

I didn't hate the movie, though, so let's concentrate on some of the things I think they got right. All the interviews and promotions that said "you've never seen a movie that looked like this" were right. It's very much an atmosphere movie, like Eraserhead (not in tone, mind you... and I'm probably the only person that's able to justify comparing the two.) Jonze captured the inherent sadness of childhood quite well; more than a few times my heartstrings got tugged, as I could remember similar events in my childhood.

The puppetry is amazing as well. I grew up on Jim Henson and have a soft spot for large scale suit-style puppets. Too many movies rely on CGI for non-human characters and lose a lot of the charm of older kids' movies. And the way Max Records (fated by name to be the star) interacts with his human and non-human co-stars is gold. I'm hoping that kid will go far in the movie biz.

Still, with all the good elements, I couldn't get into it. So many of my friends said that watching the movie was "a life changing experience," and the entire time, I sat scratching my head, thinking, "What the hell am I missing?" Maybe I'm just a jaded asshat, but I hardly think this was the movie of the year that everyone else made it out to be. It was a cute movie, but not one I'd be too interested in rewatching.

Final verdict: 5/10 (didn't love it, didn't hate it)