My eyes smiled. My mouth smiled. My brain smiled. My heart smiled (and teared up a little).
Spike Jonze ("Praise You" "Weapon of Choice") has taken Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" and turned it into a masterpiece that gives depth and backstory to Max and captured (as my friend Landon put it best) " ... that point in life at which a child ceases to define him or herself in entirely selfish terms. Really well.".
The movie is simply brilliant.
Jonze and Dave Eggers screenplay (with Sendak's blessing) took a children's book where a bratty kid escapes in his own imagination to a place where he can run wild and then realize he wants to be home where he is loved and created a film that explains WHY Max is Max and uses the Wild Things as a manifestation of those he knows and his own internal characteristics, strengths, faults, fears and dreams.
It shows the mind of a child and how a child copes and analyzes things within.
This is a character film which asks a 12-year-old actor (and most likely 10-years-old at the time of filming) to carry the brunt of the film upon his own small, young shoulders.
And Max Records does it perfectly, so much so it is evident he IS Max and not just a kid actor told to say this on this cue and be in this mood. He makes this film a success. He makes this film a dare I say masterpiece. He makes this film WORK.
Jonze and Records
The use of Jim Henson's Creature Shop to create the Wild Things (with CGI aiding in the facial expressions some) is AMAZING. You see sand flying. You see dirt impacting them. You see Max form a relationship with Carol and not just a stick with a head on it. The Wild Things are ALIVE. They exist and are running around on their island and play the physical imagination-fueled games children play (with Max's instructing).
Carol (James Gandolfini) and Max
The soundtrack is spot on with the film featuring pretty much only original songs by Karen O And The Kids, similar to the musical mood of the "Garden State" and "Juno".
There are some things I would like to pay a little harder attention to on my next viewing, such as the king discussion at the end and if it is religiously symbolic of simply childish. I would also like to study the different Wild Things characteristics even more and how they relate to Max himself.
Go see "Where the Wild Things Are". Go with some friends. Go enjoy yourself and let the self-introspection, self-evaluation and imagination run wild. Go remember your childhood. Go remember when you had a fort in your bedroom. You will not be disappointed. Just please do not go and expect this to be some children's movie, because it's not.
It's a movie for the wild thing, in all of us.
Go see "Where the Wild Things Are". Go with some friends. Go enjoy yourself and let the self-introspection, self-evaluation and imagination run wild. Go remember your childhood. Go remember when you had a fort in your bedroom. You will not be disappointed. Just please do not go and expect this to be some children's movie, because it's not.
It's a movie for the wild thing, in all of us.
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