Where The Wild Things Are
This film came out today and I am already seeing tons of reviews that are as usual highly biased and mostly polarized. Some people are saying that WTWTA is masterpiece and others are saying how terrible and unrealistic it is. DON'T LISTEN TO ANY OF IT! Go see this film simply to make your own opinion and judge it on your experience not someone else's. With that said I am gonna tell you what my experience was like, but you don't have to listen to if you don't want to. The film is an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic book in which Max is set to bed without dinner and in turn runs away and creates an imaginary land where Wild Things roam free and claim Max as their king.
The director and co-writer Spike Jonze recently told Time Out, “I didn’t set out to make a children’s film - I set out to make a film about childhood.” Honestly, that's how I've always felt about the book, because it shows children how they are similar to adults and it shows adults how they are similar to children. I mean that through out the film Max (Max Records) consistently runs into issues that adults face when he is his imaginary world and how he faces issues that children face while in the real world. Early in the film when Max is playing in his snow-covered yard and hanging around the house we see him exhibit manic changes in his emotions which children often do. He has trouble controlling his imagination as his protective "igloo" is destroyed by his sister's friend and he chases his dog around the house with, if I remember correctly, a fork. This are child like behaviors that adults don't have anymore, but we are reminded that kids are innocent and sensitive.
Once Max makes his journey across the sea to his make believe land he meets the Wild Things, and they crown him as their king after Max begs not to be eaten because he tells them he has many special powers. After meeting the Wild Things, Max takes on characteristics that usually an adult would exhibit. He must make rational choices to lead the Wild Things and to make sure that everyone is happy as he tells them he has a "sadness shield" that keeps sadness away. The Wild Things, both monstrous and human, take on the characteristics of a child, as they throw temper tantrums, express their neediness and physically rough-house each other. In his imaginary world Max now sees childhood instead of experiencing it . WTWTA is an escape from reality and in it Jonze may be saying that an adult's escape may lead them to find their childish roots, but a child escapes to a world they can only imagine - adulthood.
Where The Wild Things Are indeed lives up to its billing if and only if you accept it for what it really is, an innovative description of the inner workings of a child's mind as he figures out the turmoil of life through his imagination. The relationships between Max and Carol (James Gandolfini) and the other Wild Things so perfectly serves as a mirror for all the turbulation and doubt and longing Max feels. The journey into Max's psyche and his realization of how to handle things unfolds very delicately - so much that you almost don't realize it's happening. One moment, you're on a fun adventure to a land of freedom and fun; the next, you're processing all the symbolism that you've seen throughout the film.
The voices are selected and executed exquisitely by such actors as James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, and Chis Cooper. The cinematography is superbly done as it adds rather than subtracts from the film. The Wild Thing costumes are truly perfection as the are dead on from the book. Spike Jonze's direction is purposeful, meaningful, and extracts from the story the raw emotion and true meaning that I believe Maurice Sendak does in the book. The lone issues I see with the film are its real lack of a substance-filled plot line, and a good portrayal of how truly wild the Wild Things are. In the book they are chaos-driven creatures searching for a leader, but I do not see this so much in the film. They seem to have asome order to them before Max arrives. However, Where The Wild Things is lovable, fantastical and a great experience for those with an open heart and a wild imagination.
Rating = 8.3
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