Directed by: Spike Jonze
Starring: Max Records, James Gandolfini
Other Actors of Note: Mark Ruffalo, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Cooper
Plot: An adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's story, where Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world--a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler. Taken from www.imdb.com.
Maurice Sendak's book "Where the Wild Things Are" is easily one of the best known and beloved children's books of all time. However the book is only about 10 pages long with most of those 10 pages being made up of pictures. So it was certainly a question of how one could take such a bare bones simple story like "Where the Wild Things Are" and turn it into a full-length movie.
We know how it starts, Max is a kid with some serious anger issues and behaves in a crazed manner whilst dressed in his wolf costume/pajamas. But instead of being sent to this room this time he runs away from home and climbs aboard a sailboat he finds and goes to a faraway island in the middle of the ocean where he meets the "wild things."
Max Records is a great little actor. I don't think any child star I've ever seen has ever been able to capture the feeling of what it's like to be a child like Max has in this movie. He captures the simple joys, the fear, the anger, the sadness, and the frustration of being a child and puts it out there for all to see. He really is perfect for this role and the scene where he comes stomping down the stairs in his wolf costume with his arms crossed it looks as though he's just walked right out of the book.
I've long said that it's hard to judge a voice actor's performance. Voice acting is honestly acting stripped down to its barest form. As long as you're a halfway decent actor you'll do fine and only truly masterful actors like Mark Hammil and Patrick Warburton ever seem to do anything spectacular with it.
That said, James Gandolfini gives a performance that easily earns the man an Oscar nod and makes you go. Tony who? If Gandolfini ever needed a performance to show people that he could play more than just a hotheaded mob boss or a hired goon, this was it. Gandolfini is alternately sweet, sad, whimsical, and even scary. Sometimes several at once. Max is a great character, but it's Gandolfini's Carol that really drives Max's character along.
You'll be pleased to know that the wild things are done perfectly. The perfect marriage of CG and classic puppeteer you never feel that Max is interacting with a CG model. The wild things feel like real breathing creatures and that's part of what helps make things so real. The film wouldn't have had the impact it does if the monsters were done strictly with computer animation.
The world of the wild things seems both desolate and beautific, like a world built on the ruins of another. It always seems the wild things are interlopers in a land that once belonged to a long forgotten race of people, or perhaps they're the last of a species of creatures having forgotten what they once were and where they come from.
It's clear that the wild things are very alone on their island, save for a raccoon named Richard, two squawking owls named Bob and Terry, and a giant dog that roams the desert. None of these new additions are given any explanation and remain as out of place and random as the wild things themselves.
For the most part the wild things seem content to be alone but at the same time they seem very sad. Only KW ever seems to be somewhat happy with her station in life and it seems she's more mature than the others; especially the unruly Carol whose tantrums and anger issues mirror and even overwhelm Max's own.
Each wild thing seems to represent its own mental stigma. Carol is anger, Alexander is never paid attention to by the other wild things, Ira is modest to the point of low self-esteem, Judith is jealousy, Douglas is shy and though he's the voice of reason he never seems to speak up soon enough, the only one that doesn't fit this mold is The Bull who doesn't even talk to the very end or have a proper name.
Perhaps the wild things are parts of Max's personality, though KW's representation of a child growing up while still trying to hold onto childish things in many way mirrors Max's sister from earlier in the film.
A lot is left to interpretation but the theme of the book (kid is bad, kid goes to magical faraway land, kid deals with monsters that are worse then he is, kid learns lesson and goes home) is intact, even if it's stretched so thin you can see through it.
What struck me is that "Where the Wild Things Are" is not a movie for kids. They will be either bored, depressed, or terrified. Of course maybe it's a bit forward of me and all of us to think this is a children's movie just simply because it's based on a children's book and rated PG is jumping to conclusions. After all, most of the kids who grew up with this book are adults now. Maybe this is simply just a film to hearken back to kid in all of us. And I must admit, watching this, I felt 6-years-old again.
However there are some pacing issues. The movie is slow and seems to take a little long to get where it's going. This wasn't issue for most of the movie, but certain parts seemed to be drawn out.
It's a long, slow, and painfully emotional movie that is absolutely not recommended for children. But it's still a beautifully shot movie with a lot of heart that will appeal the child inside.
I give "Where the Wild Things Are" a 4 out of 5. You have to see it at least once.
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