Blu-ray Review: Where The Wild Things Are

Where The Wild Things Are is the long-awaited film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's seminal children's book. Directed by Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) and with a screenplay by Jonze and Dave Eggars (author of A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius and the McSweeney's Quarterly Concern literary magazine), the film expands upon the original tale, and features voice work by James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Dano, and Chris Cooper.

The Movie

Max is a pretty typical kid. His vivid imagination helps him construct a strategic military outpost in his snowy front yard, envision a swelling flood in his bedroom (from which he must save his family and stuffed animals), and when he dons his animal costume he actually becomes a wild animal. He's also prone to being alternately moody, selfish, and destructive. All in all, a pretty average kid. But one day after feeling more or less all of the above, as well as a perceived growing distance between him and his family, Max flees the house and runs. He runs into the streets, through the woods, hops in a boat and journeys across wind and waves, and finally lands on a distant shore.

He finds that this new land is inhabited by large creatures, and although frightened by their size and violent playfulness, he is also driven by a desire to join their group. Initially to protect himself from their wrath, he pretends to be a king from a distant kingdom. And wouldn't you know it, they're in need of a king. The creatures look to Max to lead, nurture, and organize them. And as it turns out, they're also a lot like Max himself; some are moody, some are selfish, and some are destructive. Max sees a lot of himself in the creatures, but he also sees that he is not much of a king either. And when one of the creatures - Carol - learns that Max might not be what he pretends to be, his rage begins to swell once again, putting Max in much more real danger.

To get a few things out of the way, it's important to know what Where The Wild Things Are is and what it isn't. What it is not is a literal word-for-word retelling of the book. This seemed to surprise exactly two people, but managed to frustrate several more. And even though simple math and logic would reveal that a book that short would have to be expanded in some way or other to fill anything approaching movie length, still people complained. However, what it is becomes something greater because of that wandering and freedom. It actually manages to retain the spirit of the book, as well as the basic structure of it, but then grows that into a much bigger and richer world. The creatures become multi-faceted characters, Max's journey has an arc of self-awareness, and the whole thing feels grounded in more emotional honesty.

Article Author: David R Perry

Lost somewhere in the rolling hills of Tennessee, David R Perry can occasionally be found doing dark, unspeakable things to words. Printed words, spoken words, electronically mangled words... really any kind but twittered words.

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