Based on Maurice Sendak’s best selling children’s book, director Spike Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers have stretched ten deceptively simple sentences into an atmospheric two-hour feature film, ‘Where The Wild Things Are.’
In the picture book, Max is a wild child who escapes to an imaginary world where he rules the monsters – and returns home when he realises he misses his mother. The film expands on the book, sharing more of Max’s (Max Records) life in the real world. With a shaky and intimate hand-held camera, we see Max being pushed away by his teenage sister, frightened by the apocalyptic prophecies of his science teacher, and struggling to steal time from his preoccupied mother. After a fight with his mother, where Max acts out to get attention, he flees his family home and – through a dream-like sequence – finds himself in a world closer to his liking. A world filled with friends in the shape of scary monsters, and without the rules and regulations of the real world. The monsters in the film have names and personalities, where in the book they were only ever an unclear collective, a blur of feathers and fur. As Max learns to interact with each of these creatures, he learns about himself. But the line between childishness and wildness is indistinct, and dream worlds can be the most dangerous.
‘Where The Wild Things Are’ has had a ferocious amount of hype surrounding, and it thankfully lives up to the indie-kid expectations. It retains the darkness of the original story, as well as the straightforward look at childhood, and doesn’t compromise for the sake of the kids. The faithfulness and frankness comes from, one feels, the minds behind the project. With the hippest kids of Hollywood involved – Jonze (of ‘Adaptation’ and ‘Being John Malkovich’ fame), Eggers (author and founder of ‘McSweeneys’ alternative literary journal), and composer Karen O (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) – this was never going to be a typical animated children’s film. Young actor Max Records might just be the least annoying child actor I’ve ever seen. He manages to capture the varied emotions required for the role, from irrational anger to wide-eyed wisdom.
Also impressive are the wild things of the island. By giving each monster a personality, we can see Max tangibly grapple with reconciling the warring aspects of his own personality: the love he feels for his mother, his fear of abandonment, and his need for fun. The large-scale suits that make the monsters also seem more real than any CGI creature ever could be – the sometimes shaky and cumbersome movements, and the stiff fur only add to the texture of the film. It feels more like a children’s dream than an animated Pixar production, and is the better for it.
This is a film that represents a child’s psychological landscape, much more realistically than Neverland did (from the classic ‘Peter Pan,’ a world which was supposed to be a map of a child’s mind). Because children are not solely concerned with pirates, fairies and mermaids – they feel elation and isolation, irritation and dejection in equal measures. Max’s confusion and lack of control are seriously considered in this film, not merely branded as bad behaviour. It attempting to present the film truly from a child’s point of view – not merely through a sanitised, candy cane-coloured lens – the viewer is a child, too. It is an assault on the senses, and at attempt at authenticity.
While children themselves might find this film slow moving or scary or sad – they might also sympathise. Adults should definitely enjoy it. It is a visceral and violently imaginative film. I’ll eat it up, I love it so.
Director: Spike Jonze
Cast: Max Records, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, Michael Berry Jnr, Chris Cooper
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