Maurice Sendak's book, "Where The Wild Things Are", is embedded in the minds of most people of adult age because of the wonderful character and landscape designs that enthralled them as a kid. Plot? There really isn't much. Max gets angry, Max imagines wild world where he vents anger and pals around with monsters, Max longs for home, eats dinner. That story doesn't beg for cinematic interpretation. So, the first challenge for co-writers Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers was to make Max's adventures fill a feature length movie. The challenge may have been too much, as this adult needed more than the gorgeous design to get through 100 minutes of Max's world.
The film "Where the Wild Things Are" is essentially a nine-year-old's adventure. The production elements, acting, music and design all lend themselves to telling the ADD-saddled story of a kid with issues. Max has problems at home. He's upset with his mother (Catherine Keener) dating a new man (presumably after her husband's death), he's upset with his sister not getting his back, he's upset with his sister's friends for mistreating him. He needs to get away. After acting out and biting his mom, he finds a boat that takes him to the island where the Wild Things live. You'd think if a book is thirty-seven pages long, you wouldn't have to make any cuts, but Jonze and Eggers make the boat trip somewhere outside of Max's house. In the book, one of the more memorable images is Max's room transforming to into a jungle. That magical illustration is lost here.
So what's added to beef up the story? The opening is exciting, as Max chases his dog around the house in the trademark "Wild Thing" outfit from the book, and soon we see his vulnerable side as he builds a snow fort and watches it get destroyed by his sister's friends. When Max gets to Wild Thing island, they add a bunch of action you would find in a nine-year-old's adventure – mud fights, they smash stuff, they pile on each other, they build a fort. I'd love to say all these events touched my inner child, but it all adds up to a meandering plot that never really engaged me.
Under it all is the idea of the Wild Things making Max their king. Max's "reign" as king has different effects on the Wild Things. Some question his leadership, some are disappointed in his role, and Max lies and feels the repercussions. Jonze and Eggers probably do the right thing in keeping the story simple (as opposed to Bruckheimering it up), but at times I was just (I hate to say this about a movie that presumed 'hip') bored.
The Wild Things are given individual personalities they weren't afforded in the book. Their leader is Carol, who is all destructive id, K.W. is the voice of reason, Alexander is the none-too-subtly devised goat, always condescended to and left out, there's a twitchy bird character named Douglas and a "couple", Ira and Judith, who mix parental adoration with pessimism. It is no doubt the purpose of fleshing out these characters to give them characteristics a young child deals with on a daily basis, either owning them or facing them.
Voicing these beasts are James Gandolfini as Carol, going for vulnerability, but having difficulty escaping his Tony Soprano voice. I expected him to drop an F-bomb. Paul Dano is excellent as the sheepish Alexander and Lauren Ambrose is nurturing as K.W. The Wild Thing designs are a marvel, mixing Henson Creature Shop full-body suits with CGI-built faces, providing a wide variety of expressions. The two technical achievements are seamlessly combined. One misstep I feel the film made was not including the bodysuit performers alongside the voice actors in the end credits. You have to search deep in the scroll to find out who did all the on-set work with Max. They did a great job and I want to rectify that misstep here:
Vincent Crowley – Carol Suit Performer Sonny Gerasimowicz – Alexander Suit Performer Nick Farnell – Judith Suit Performer Sam Longley – Ira Suit Performer Angus Sampson – The Bull Suit Performer Mark McCracken – The Bull Additional Suit Performer John Leary – Douglas Suit Performer Alice Parkinson – KW Suit Performer Garon Michael – KW Additional Suit Performer
Hard to believe this information isn't even available at IMDb.com! Sonny Gerasimowicz was one of the suit designers, too, and deserves special mention.
Other tech elements are superior, too, as the production made full use of the Australian countryside where they shot. Deserts, forests, beaches and rock canyons all provide eye candy and the fort design and other visual FX blend in nicely. The music by give-him-an-Oscar-already Carter Burwell is great, working with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to provide a whimsical score, reminding us that even when the Wild Things act violent or outrageous, they're childish at heart. DP Lance Acord shoots the proceedings at a kinetic pace when necessary, and lush when called for.
Acting first-timer Max Records is impressive as Max, in that he inhabits a bratty kid as well as flawlessly interacting mostly with expressionless puppets on the set. But perhaps it's the brattiness in Max and in the Wild Things that left me a little cold in the end. Few of these characters are sympathetic and there's no real dramatic thru-line to get involved in.
The film "Where the Wild Things Are" is essentially a nine-year-old's adventure. The production elements, acting, music and design all lend themselves to telling the ADD-saddled story of a kid with issues. Max has problems at home. He's upset with his mother (Catherine Keener) dating a new man (presumably after her husband's death), he's upset with his sister not getting his back, he's upset with his sister's friends for mistreating him. He needs to get away. After acting out and biting his mom, he finds a boat that takes him to the island where the Wild Things live. You'd think if a book is thirty-seven pages long, you wouldn't have to make any cuts, but Jonze and Eggers make the boat trip somewhere outside of Max's house. In the book, one of the more memorable images is Max's room transforming to into a jungle. That magical illustration is lost here.
So what's added to beef up the story? The opening is exciting, as Max chases his dog around the house in the trademark "Wild Thing" outfit from the book, and soon we see his vulnerable side as he builds a snow fort and watches it get destroyed by his sister's friends. When Max gets to Wild Thing island, they add a bunch of action you would find in a nine-year-old's adventure – mud fights, they smash stuff, they pile on each other, they build a fort. I'd love to say all these events touched my inner child, but it all adds up to a meandering plot that never really engaged me.
Under it all is the idea of the Wild Things making Max their king. Max's "reign" as king has different effects on the Wild Things. Some question his leadership, some are disappointed in his role, and Max lies and feels the repercussions. Jonze and Eggers probably do the right thing in keeping the story simple (as opposed to Bruckheimering it up), but at times I was just (I hate to say this about a movie that presumed 'hip') bored.
The Wild Things are given individual personalities they weren't afforded in the book. Their leader is Carol, who is all destructive id, K.W. is the voice of reason, Alexander is the none-too-subtly devised goat, always condescended to and left out, there's a twitchy bird character named Douglas and a "couple", Ira and Judith, who mix parental adoration with pessimism. It is no doubt the purpose of fleshing out these characters to give them characteristics a young child deals with on a daily basis, either owning them or facing them.
Voicing these beasts are James Gandolfini as Carol, going for vulnerability, but having difficulty escaping his Tony Soprano voice. I expected him to drop an F-bomb. Paul Dano is excellent as the sheepish Alexander and Lauren Ambrose is nurturing as K.W. The Wild Thing designs are a marvel, mixing Henson Creature Shop full-body suits with CGI-built faces, providing a wide variety of expressions. The two technical achievements are seamlessly combined. One misstep I feel the film made was not including the bodysuit performers alongside the voice actors in the end credits. You have to search deep in the scroll to find out who did all the on-set work with Max. They did a great job and I want to rectify that misstep here:
Vincent Crowley – Carol Suit Performer Sonny Gerasimowicz – Alexander Suit Performer Nick Farnell – Judith Suit Performer Sam Longley – Ira Suit Performer Angus Sampson – The Bull Suit Performer Mark McCracken – The Bull Additional Suit Performer John Leary – Douglas Suit Performer Alice Parkinson – KW Suit Performer Garon Michael – KW Additional Suit Performer
Hard to believe this information isn't even available at IMDb.com! Sonny Gerasimowicz was one of the suit designers, too, and deserves special mention.
Other tech elements are superior, too, as the production made full use of the Australian countryside where they shot. Deserts, forests, beaches and rock canyons all provide eye candy and the fort design and other visual FX blend in nicely. The music by give-him-an-Oscar-already Carter Burwell is great, working with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to provide a whimsical score, reminding us that even when the Wild Things act violent or outrageous, they're childish at heart. DP Lance Acord shoots the proceedings at a kinetic pace when necessary, and lush when called for.
Acting first-timer Max Records is impressive as Max, in that he inhabits a bratty kid as well as flawlessly interacting mostly with expressionless puppets on the set. But perhaps it's the brattiness in Max and in the Wild Things that left me a little cold in the end. Few of these characters are sympathetic and there's no real dramatic thru-line to get involved in.