 "Photo: Courtesy of NY Times")
It's always difficult to adapt a short story, it's hard to squeeze a dollar out of a penny. Spike Jonze tries his best to bring Maurice Sendak's “Where the Wild Things Are”. Although the visuals and production design are amazing, the film falls flat with a story that doesn't go anywhere and going back and fourth with it's emotional tone.
Max Records plays the role of Max a young, misunderstood boy. His sister has started to become un-interested in him and his mother is just too busy to play with him. So he gets really, really mad and what does he do? He get's on a boat and sails away; usually I would just breath and go in my room, but whatever floats your boat (No pun intended).
He arrives to the island that is inhabited by the wild things. The wild things are voiced by real actors including James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Forest Whitaker and Paul Dano. Max has his fun with the wild things having dirt cloud wars and jumping on them. This is where the film became a bit lost to me.
Spike Jonze and co-writer Dave Egges had a task on their hand trying to adapt a short story. It's hard to do, no matter who you are. The beginning with Max and his family are wonderful. They show this insecurity and sadness in Max that made me feel with him. I could see this character trying to find his place, but having trouble. But once the wild things show up, Jonze and Eggers really don't know what to do.
Scenes with the wild things really have no finish line. The beginning is set up nice as a getaway for Max. He is having fun with them and gets away from his problems. But there seems to be no point to these scenes. I sat in the theater waiting for some metaphorical reason, but I was left disappointed. I thought Jonze could use the wild things as a parable for Max's life at home, but it seems liked a missed chance by the Jonze.
The films high points are the technical aspects. From production design to cinematography, I cannot complain one bit about those things. The wild things are a thing of beauty, they are puppets with digital faces. But it feels like the actors are inside the costumes.
There has been much talk about the type of audience that this film is aimed at. It is definitely geared toward the older crowd. I am of that age range and I still didn't like the movies.
Although the visuals are amazing, “Where the Wild Things Are” falls flat. Jonze had a chance to offer us much more than he did. He gives us a mundane story that has no point an emotional tone that goes back and fourth.
Be the first to comment on this article!