The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies

Review: Where the Wild Things Are

Jonze, Eggers, and Sendak aren’t kidding around
By PETER KEOUGH  |  October 16, 2009
3.5 3.5 Stars

 

Where the Wild Things Are | Directed by Spike Jonze | Written by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, based on the book by Maurice Sendak | with Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, and Michael Berry Jr. | Warner Bros. | 101 minutes
I can’t speak for the kids, but I would rate Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s 40-page children’s picture book up there with Up and Wall•E as topping the recent renaissance in children’s movies. If pressed, I’d rank it close to The Wizard of Oz. It touches as deeply and entertains as generously as those three classics, evoking them in style, themes, and structure.

It begins with the same laconic, cinematic simplicity of the two Pixar hits, using images, editing, music and sound, and a minimum of dialogue. Max (Max Records) seems older than the boy in the wolf suit of the original and perhaps more disturbed. A subtle, nearly wordless montage of episodes — Max building a snow fort, weeping after his sister’s friends smash it, listening to a teacher cheerily describe the death of the sun, biting his mother (Catherine Keener) after eavesdropping on her conversation with her boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) — reveals more about juvenile loneliness and rage in 10 minutes than most films on the subject achieve in two trite and talky hours.

And this is scary rage — nothing cutesy about the freeze frame of Max’s face as he attacks the family dog. Propelled by this feral fury, Max runs away from home. He finds an abandoned boat, sails for ages, and struggles against crashing waves to land in the title realm. There he overhears the wild things before he sees them, their non sequiturs tripping over one another like dialogue in a Robert Altman movie. When he does see them, in the glow of a bonfire, they are indeed the Sendak creatures come to life. They’re a little more frightening than Wally the Green Monster; they’re also suspiciously like squabbling, neurotic grown-ups. This is one of Jonze & Eggers’s more inspired additions. The wild things aren’t just projections of Max’s anger, they’re his interpretation of the adult world around him — both his superego and his id, to resort to a Freudian interpretation that I’m sure all the pre-schoolers in the audience will pick up on right away.

Okay, more likely the kids will focus instead on the flawed and endearing personalities of Max’s new friends. The Shrekish Carol (James Gandolfini) is the most charismatic and threatening; his giant chicken pal Douglas (Chris Cooper) barely keeps him under control, especially when it comes to Carol’s ogress friend KW (Lauren Ambrose), who appears to have dumped him. As for passive-aggressiveness, no one can beat the rhinocerotic Judith (Catherine O’Hara). But Alexander (Paul Dano) might be my favorite — he’s the goat version of Eeyore, though sadder and more malicious.

They might be funny, but they’re also wild, and to keep them from eating him, Max must tell a story. In the story he’s a king, and so the wild things make him their king. It’s The Wizard of Oz with Max as the Wizard, and like the Wizard, he makes impossible promises — like keeping out all the sadness. Jonze cuts from that line to a black screen, a frequent device that highlights the magic, as does his knack for the understated, bizarre, and often hilarious detail. What doesn’t work so well is the return voyage. There might be no place like home, but it will never be the same again.

Related: October lite, Review: Away We Go, Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009), More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, James Gandolfini,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

Today's Event Picks
ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE  |  October 19, 2009
    I can’t speak for the kids, but I would rate Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s 40-page children’s picture book up there with Up and Wall•E as topping the recent renaissance in children’s movies. If pressed, I’d rank it close to The Wizard of Oz .
  •   REVIEW: ST. TRINIANS  |  October 15, 2009
    Some out-of-work A-list British actors end up at Hogwarts. Others must settle for St. Trinian’s.
  •   REVIEW: NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU  |  October 14, 2009
    The multi-episode portmanteau movie is usually less than the sum of its parts.
  •   REVIEW: A SERIOUS MAN  |  October 10, 2009
    The Coen Brothers have put the sad back in sadism.
  •   REVIEW: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY  |  October 15, 2009
    The "normal" puts the chills in Paranormal Activity .

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group