Media Macaroni

Still nauseous with the feeling that the movie would be crushed under my high expectations, I went to see Where the Wild Things Are, and I found it to be a stunning, very sad movie.

Obviously it’s very hard to separate myself from the source material, and right off the bat I was put off by the forest happening outside, not in Max’s bedroom. But when we got to the place where the wild things are, I settled down to take the movie as something new. For one thing, the wild things are gorgeous and totally expressive. It’s easy to immediately get caught up in their world, though it was slightly disturbing though to have Tony Soprano’s voice emanating from a wild thing in the middle of a rampage. The boy playing Max is very good, especially in his perfectly detailed wolf suit. There’s also a fine artistry to the movie, from the sets to the palette to the hand-held camera work. It really is unmistakably a Spike Jonze movie.

What I found surprising was the extent to which sadness and loneliness carry through the entirety of the movie. In my mind, when Max becomes king of all wild things it’s a blissful dream world until he starts to miss home. In the movie, Max’s life with the wild things is as sad and emotional and lonely as life back home with his sister and struggling single mom. There’s internal conflict among the wild things that King Max is expected to fix, but being just a boy with no special powers he can only disappoint. The emotional center of the movie did suck me in, though, and by the end I was sobbing.

What this movie is not is a movie for the picture book crowd. I found myself glad we didn’t have Olive with us. And it’s not because it would be too scary. It’s just too… complex. To really get into the movie you have to be able to connect with Max and his particular brand of fear and loneliness that comes from unhappiness at home. Older kids who can identify with Max should enjoy it, but most of all, this movie will be enjoyed by adults who loved this book as a child. Proper reverence is given to the source material, and the movie comes across as something Spike Jonze made for himself, not for kids.

Now it’s on to expectations for the next adaptation, Fantastic Mr. Fox by another favorite director, Wes Anderson.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 7:29 pm and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.