When I heard it was in production over a year ago, I got excited about this movie, waiting for it to come out, watching all the trailers, etc. I even bought the book I remembered from childhood, since the copy from back then is not around.
I didn't remember how short the book is - it's actually only around 10 sentences total. When my new copy of the book arrived, I wondered how Spike Jonze would "stretch" this very short story to a feature-length film.
Obviously, liberties were taken with the story - like the fact that in the movie, Max's adventure doesn't occur within the physical confines of his room (and imagination). Additionally, the "wild things" Max conjures up are given names and personalities - sometimes confusingly. Most notable with regard to that confusion is the "Carol" character - a typically female name, but the character was voiced brilliantly by James Gandolfini, and after a few minutes I didn't care about the gender/name conflict. Jim Henson Productions (of Muppets parentage) created "monsters" that were emotive, lifelike and surprisingly relateable. Many of the emotions Carol expresses (sometimes destructively) are clearly those felt by Max himself. By putting them upon Carol, it gave him an outlet to consider and deal with them.
I've read some negative reviews online, and many of them freely admit that they hadn't even looked at the book upon which the film is based. Others brought their children, sometimes very young children. This is not a film for children - especially younger than 10 years old or so. Some sequences may be frightening for younger viewers, and the pace is likely to test their attention span. Also, the allegory will be lost on of most children.
This film centers around (and is based upon) the vivid imagination of a boy (perhaps 8 or so) with some emotional issues, an absentee father, and other feelings that he expresses by "acting out" - tormenting the family dog, yelling at (and biting - !) his mother, etc. From that perspective, the film was a beautiful and compelling fairytale that expands upon the universe Sendak created 26 years ago. The visuals are unique and refreshing, and the soundtrack almost sounds like it was created and performed by a child - with pitch-perfect results. This is a film that needs to be seen in a theater or
Blu-Ray
for its full effect to be properly appreciated.
