Wild child goes into imaginary world
By SHAWN HUGHES
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Entertainment
Spike Jonze has recreated the Maurice Sendak childhood classic story Where the Wild Things Are into a feature length movie with bleak filming and script. While the book was a childhood classic, the film has many dreary scenes and can be truly startling throughout parts of the movie.
The film is well designed and does its best to stay with the classic novel, even though it is a 101-minute film derived from a slender animated kid's book.
Max, played by Max Records (Directions, The Brothers Bloom), is a hyper, attention-desiring child who lashes out at those around him when he feels he is not receiving enough attention. It becomes apparent through a number of scenes that a lack of male influence and a working mother makes Max feel alone and withdrawn, despite his family trying their best to be there for him.
Eventually, when seeing his mother on a date, he acts out. His mother tries to stop him, and he bites her. His mother yells at him for being out of control and for not listening to her. He runs away and climbs into a sailboat.
After sailing across a large body of water and surviving a storm, he finds an island of strange creatures that are taller than men living in the woods. The animals are covered in hair and seem to be wild. When Max first meets the creatures, he befriends one named Carroll who seems similar to Max with his anger issues.
The creatures consider eating Max until he convinces them he is a king; eventually they make Max their king, and he helps them build a fortress and tries to make their sadness disappear. However, the pressures and responsibilities of being a king begin to wear on Max. Things turn violent and dark as the creatures start doubting Max's powers and abilities.
The film stays to the story and does not extend the plot or change the story much from the childrens book despite the vast differences in length.
The acting, while not the greatest, is still good. The movie is dark and in some scenes a little intimidating. The film does seem to jump from point-to-point sometimes, and is occasionally hard to follow as the reasons behind characters actions do not always make sense.
The film is worth watching, especially for those that grew up reading the book, but is not a ground breaking movie. It is entertaining and brought back fond memories of the popular childhood book.
The film overall is worth a three out of five rating and mostly made for those who still fondly remember reading the book and dreaming of traveling to that world.
The film is well designed and does its best to stay with the classic novel, even though it is a 101-minute film derived from a slender animated kid's book.
Max, played by Max Records (Directions, The Brothers Bloom), is a hyper, attention-desiring child who lashes out at those around him when he feels he is not receiving enough attention. It becomes apparent through a number of scenes that a lack of male influence and a working mother makes Max feel alone and withdrawn, despite his family trying their best to be there for him.
Eventually, when seeing his mother on a date, he acts out. His mother tries to stop him, and he bites her. His mother yells at him for being out of control and for not listening to her. He runs away and climbs into a sailboat.
After sailing across a large body of water and surviving a storm, he finds an island of strange creatures that are taller than men living in the woods. The animals are covered in hair and seem to be wild. When Max first meets the creatures, he befriends one named Carroll who seems similar to Max with his anger issues.
The creatures consider eating Max until he convinces them he is a king; eventually they make Max their king, and he helps them build a fortress and tries to make their sadness disappear. However, the pressures and responsibilities of being a king begin to wear on Max. Things turn violent and dark as the creatures start doubting Max's powers and abilities.
The film stays to the story and does not extend the plot or change the story much from the childrens book despite the vast differences in length.
The acting, while not the greatest, is still good. The movie is dark and in some scenes a little intimidating. The film does seem to jump from point-to-point sometimes, and is occasionally hard to follow as the reasons behind characters actions do not always make sense.
The film is worth watching, especially for those that grew up reading the book, but is not a ground breaking movie. It is entertaining and brought back fond memories of the popular childhood book.
The film overall is worth a three out of five rating and mostly made for those who still fondly remember reading the book and dreaming of traveling to that world.
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