New Review: "Where The Wild Things Are"

Way back in 1963, author Maurice Sendak wrote and published a children's book called "Where The Wild Things Are". Containing many illustrations and only a few sentences, it has since become a classic, and is recognized not only by kids, but by adults as well. Now, almost fifty years later, it has finnally made it's way to the big screen.

Directed by Spike Jonze ("Adaptation", "Being John Malkavich"), the film immediately has a very original feel/style to it. Most of the the shots are hand held, making it very gritty looking. This through me off, because I was expecting a fun film about a childs imagination. While I was right about the imagination part, I was wrong about the fun part. This movie is extreemly dreary and the characters have so much internal pain... including the wild things.

After a confrontation with his single Mom, our main character Max runs away into the woods. It is here that he escapes into his imagination and eventually meets the wild things, large furry creatures with different personalities (with voices by James Gandolphini, Chris Cooper, and Forest Whitaker, to name a few). After he establishes himself as King, Max and the wild things set out to build a brand new empire. Relationships are then dramatized, and conflicts between the characters ensue.

This is definitely not a movie for kids. Even though it's rated PG and is based off a kids book... it's mostly for adults to view and remember what it's like to be a kid. Children will not get this movie! The characters are simply too deep, if your not old enough to understand the internal conflicts the characters are going through, you will be bored. And for adults, the film is rather depressing (especially the ending). Don't get me wrng, there's is still plenty of weird quirky humor throughout, and all the performances are top notch (even the voice acting). But the unerlying theme remains there, and that sense of depression never leaves.

That being said, I still managed to care for the characters... even though there was no direction for the story to go once Max becomes king. From then on, it's all about friendship and the certain conflicts one goes through in a friendship. It's definitely a memorable film, even if it's not as enjoyable as I expected it to be.

My Rating: 5 out of 10