Where the Wild Things Are is a filmic adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book. The story follows Max (Max Records) as he runs away from his problems at home and finds himself ending up on an island inhabited by “Wild Things”. The “Wild Things” are supposed to be as childish as Max. This fantasy world mirrors his real life in more ways than one- building forts, getting in dirt-clod fights, running around rambunctiously as means of amusement. Since the “Wild Things” make Max their king, he acts as a parent-figure to them and soon learns that being a parent is harder than it looks. They all want a world where “anything you want to happen, can happen”. But Max soon finds out that this type of world is impossible. The film was directed and co-written by Spike Jonze, whose past features include the brilliantly creative Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.

The film was a fascinating adaptation of a beloved children’s book. I only vaguely remembered the book from my childhood, but I (along with many others) had a warm nostalgia upon initially seeing the trailer. That being said, the narrative was much more depressing in tone than I had envisioned it to be. There is much that I loved about it, but the narrative was less than exciting. If nothing else, I was captivated throughout most of the film by the visuals alone. The character designs of the “Wild Things” were unique to this film and were all I could have hoped for when adapting them into live-action. Jonze uses a mixture of live-action puppetry (provided by Jim Henson’s Company) and CGI to bring these characters to life. As with past Henson successes, the audience feels a strong connection to these hand-made characters. Read the rest of this entry »