Where The Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze) : Movie Review

Everyones favourite children’s book, Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, has been brought to life (filmed in Victoria, ah-thankyou very much) and is finally hitting the big screen thanks to the warped and innovative mind of director Spike Jonze – and be sure, it exceeds every expectation you may have had!

Where The Wild Things Are follows the story of a young, irritable (aka. “A.D.D. Suffering”) and largely misunderstood young lad named Max, who runs away from home only to somehow land on an island where he meets a group of mysteriously hairy, strange creatures whose emotions (see: “Depresso”) are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. Narrowly escaping being eaten (thanks largely to The Wild Things desperate longing for a leader to guide them), Max is soon crowned their King – and his first order of business… he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy.

However, like real life, Max soon finds that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

WHAT’S THE BUZZ
It seems almost unfathomable that a major studio would leave film as good and as hyped as Where The Wild Things Are just sitting on the shelf for more than two years. Admittedly, Spike Jonze has been quite a sneaky little so-and-so by out-and-out tricking the suits into coughing up “Summer Blockbuster” cash for what is very much an independent film. By that, I mean it is a movie with a “plot, themes, layers and is enjoyable on every level” as opposed to GI JOE which was “loud”.

The big drawcard here is Spike Jonze’s use of real life “Wild Thing” suits, with CGI being used merely as a subtle enhancer for facial movements. Sure, it might have been easier to plug the whole thing into the ol’ laptop like Monsters Inc’s Sully… but as anyone who grew up watching Return To Oz, Never Ending Story, The Goonies or even Honey I Shrunk The Kids (you’re telling me you never wanted to ride that giant ant too?) will tell you – real is the way to go.

Yes, we KNOW it’s a guy in a suit – but just knowing you could touch the textures or interact allows the audience to automatically be transported into the world on screen and stay there long after the credits have finished rolling.

And that is where Where The Wild Things Are stamps itself as the first official childrens cult classic of the 2000s.

However, it’s not all about suits, subtleties and stellar performances (James Gandolfini easily gives his greatest performance since Tony Soprano here… he brings such an angry innocence to the voice role of Carol), Jonze and Sendak have ensured that there is a richness and power about the storytelling too.

It’s often dark, it’s often uncomfortable, it’s often bleak – but as Terry Gilliam said of Time Bandits (and this is true of nearly every classic movie you’ve ever loved as a kid, even back to The Wizard Of Oz) “You’ve got to scare kids, otherwise they won’t learn that being bad has consequences”.

So while it may not be as “literally” scary as the later episodes of Harry Potter, Where The Wild Things Are is certainly more alienating and emotionally involving and therefore packs a greater punch then most will even realise.

Whether kids understand those lessons now, or many years down the track when they revisit it on DVD, Blu Ray, X-Ray Goggle or “Google Holograms” or whatever new fangled techno babble we are speaking then – they are lessons that are being learned… and not simply flashing lights to make studios a few extra bucks.

WATCH OUT FOR
The Wild Things! The Wild Things! The Environments! The entire world which has been created is just so lush, flat-out visually stunning and wonderful!

You might also want to keep an eye of for that little shit of a kid called “Max”… yes, I know he supposedly learns his lesson at the end (although, perhaps it’s not hammered home as much as it should be for the kiddies) and yes I know we are supposed to feel bad for him but really… what a little bastard!

WATCH OUT FOR | RATING : 4 / 5

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
In Cinemas DECEMBER 3, 2009