Where the Wild Things Are

Ah, finally! I get to actually review something big. Something with a ton of back story to me. Something that I have such a personal connection to, that I was extremely critical of anything that could have come of it. Yes I like many many people, grew up with the gloriousness that was Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are”. It was a fun little story with creative monsters. I loved book and read it all the time, well into middle school in fact. Back the fuck off if you want to judge that I read a kid’s book that long, it was just good. To be honest though children’s media, when well done, really holds up when you’re an adult too. I love going back to look at things like “The Sandlot”, or “The Never-ending Story” and the almighty “E. T. The Extra Terrestrial” and “The Goonies” because of one big reason that I’m sure you already know, THEY’RE GOOD!!!
Thus I come to the film version of this story. I was as skeptical as you probably are if you haven’t seen this movie. The original story was very short. Here’s the brief summary of the book. Max is a rowdy kid. He gets in trouble with his mom one night, and she sends him to bed with no dinner. While in his room, Max goes in to an imagery world that he navigates through in a boat and comes to the titular Wild Things. They are a bunch of big monster looking things and Max becomes their king. However, Max gets bored after awhile and heads home much to the dismay of the Wild Things. When he finally gets home he finds that his mother has left him dinner in his room, and it’s still warm. It’s a sweet and charming story, meaning making a good movie out of it is near impossible.
So, how is such a feat to be achieved? Well, you simply need to watch this movie and you have your answer. It’s a great film that keeps the heart and story of the original material but adds a lot great things! Things that most movies these days lack like: character and plot and great design.
The story is mostly the same, but they add some changes. Max is not so much rowdy as troubled. He’s at the point where he’s feeling alone, his sister is off with her friends all the time, his mother still loves and cares for him, but she has her own life too. It comes to a head when he gets the feeling that his mother doesn’t really seem to want to pay attention to him when he’s feeling lonely and so he puts on his wolf costume (another nod to the source material) and throws a fit that ends in him biting her and running away to the woods. There he finds a boat and goes to the land of the Wild Things. He becomes their king and tries to rule in such away that everyone is happy and always having fun. Slowly though, he realizes that his selfishness is actually hurting the Wild Things, and ultimately decides that he has to go back home.
Now, really this is one of those things that may sound silly to some, but really this is a movie that is based on a picture book, if you have shit design you have fucked the movie, plan and simple. Thankfully it’s like I said, the design is just perfect. Most of the Wild Things look like they walked out of the book, mainly because, well, they’re actually in front of the camera. I said in my “Sorority Row” review that I’m not too hot on 100% CGI, mostly this comes from the fact that many CGI movies just look fake. I mean, they look cool, but I can tell I’m looking at an effect and it really detracts from the movies most of time unless we’re talking about things “King Kong ‘05”, or the “Pirates of The Caribbean” films. Thankfully, this movie chose to make the Wild Things with the help of the studio that is God when it comes to suits and puppets, The Jim Henson Work Shop. Before anyone points out the CG in the movie, I’m aware, the facial movements are CG. I don’t care because the rest of the creature is actually there. The CG is there to add fluidity that can’t be achieved by animatronics, THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO FUCKING WORK! On top of this, the sets look amazing and really give you a sense of being in another world. It really feels like you’re there.
On top of that, the acting talent is just stunning. Max Records is just amazing as Max here. He just perfectly gathers all the anguish, anger, happiness and well nearly every other emotion I can think of for this character, and he’s only 12! People made a big deal about Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense” or Keisha Castle-Hughes in “Whale Rider”, and they did very well in those roles, but really I didn’t see anything worthy of the Oscar nominations they received. With Records, I saw a child performance that was seriously over looked. Catherine Keener does great as the mother, being supportive but having her limits and getting frustrated by her son’s behavior. Honestly, what steals the show is the Wild Things themselves, not just because of the design, but seriously the voices are what seal the deal for me. All the talent from Catherine O’ Hara to Chris Cooper to Tony Soprano himself James Gandolfini creates their own characters beautifully. They all have their own personality traits and quirks. It’s different from what you thought would come from the story because all these character are poignant, well rounded and oh so likable.
You know what, I could give this movie a verbal blow job for fucking hours and still not come close to truly describing how good it is. It’s hard to describe so here’s what happens now: You are going to close this window. You will then go to a torrent site or your video store of choice. You will rent or download the movie. And most importantly of all, FUCKING WATCH IT!