Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, 2009): USA

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed at Edwards Cinemas, Santa Maria, CA.

Where the Wild Things AreAdapting Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, to the screen is an undertaking filled with creative obstacles. Some of them Director Spike Jonze has met while others he is unable to find a satisfactory solution. What results is a film that is not always what you expect or want it to be, and is destined to fall short of the lofty expectations that come with adapting a classic.

Max (Max Records) is a nine year old boy who is constantly retreating to his imagination. He craves attention from his older teenage sister, Claire, but she is too busy with her friends to give him any. His father is no longer around, presumably divorced from his mother, but that is only a guess since it is not specifically explained. His mother (Catherine Keener) nurtures his creativity, typing out his imaginative stories as he tells them to her, but she has a life of her own as well. While Max’s playful creativeness allows him to have fun he also has a tendency toward throwing fits when things go bad. When his mom won’t go into his newly constructed fort because she is making dinner for them and her new boyfriend Max throws a fit, standing on the table and telling her “feed me woman!” In the struggle that ensues between them Max bites his mom and then runs off out the door. He finds a boat and sails, seemingly for days until he happens on the island where the wild things are. After some lies he tells them about his magic powers they make him their king hoping he will turn around the ill mood that has overtaken their village. At first he does as the wild things play and have fun, but soon it is apparent that the same problems in the village still exist and Max has not changed anything.

The hope of many of the book’s fans must be that the film captures the spirit of the book, but in expanding what is a two minute read into an hour and a half film is bound to take some turns that do not satisfy, yet the film has a lot going for it. The casting of Max Records as Max is excellent. He is not so much acting as he is filling the role, but do not under estimate the importance of this. Casting of a boy for such a pivotal role as this can go horribly wrong as in Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker, lisping his terrible dialogue, while sporting a bowl haircut (is that really how Vader looked and talked as a boy?) Records is the kind of appealing, innocent, playful boy we can root for and imagine being friends with, joining in his games.

The film’s other strength is the reproduction of the look of the book’s “wild things.” Their costumes and movements are wondrous and satisfy your visual expectations of the film. The voices are also well done led by James Gandolfini as the main wild thing, Carol. The other wild things are voiced by Catherine O’Hara as Judith, Lauren Ambrose as KW, Forest Whitaker as Ira, Paul Dano as Alexander, Chris cooper as Douglas, and Michael Berry Jr. as the Bull.

Now for the bad news. In expanding the book into a film, Jonze places everything in the book under a microscope. In the book we didn’t need an explanation for Max’s bratty behavior, but now we have a distant sister, divorced parents, an absent father, single working mother, and momma’s new boyfriend. For lovers of the book this is something akin to airing Max’s dirty laundry.

And now the wild things are not wild things, but a dysfunctional group of anthropomorphic beasts in a strange land. There is something all too human in their problems (and their names) where in the book their only problem was Max leaving. Here, Max turns out to be a really ineffective, if not bad, king where in the book his reign was quite successful and the sad part was that part of you wanted him to remain with the wild things. Though they’ll miss him, you don’t get the sense that they really want him to stay and you know it is best for both parties if he leaves.

This seems to be a case of less is more, and, though I applaud them for trying, the film ultimately fails to expand upon the book. There seems to be too much everyday reality invading this story of imagination. Maybe one day someone might take another crack at and get it right, but for the time being you’re better off using your own imagination in between the few lines of Sendak’s book.

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Published:
10.28.09 / 2am
Category:
Films