Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Destined To Become Timeless Classic
BELIEVE THE HYPE
Where The Wild Things Are: Audiences Will Eat It Up
"THE NIGHT MAX WORE HIS WOLF SUIT AND MADE MISCHIEF OF ONE KIND AND ANOTHER," HE CAUGHT HIS MOTHER KISSING AND RAN AWAY FROM HOME.
And so we're off on an epic adventure in Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved storybook, Where The Wild Things Are.
Turns out the wild things are on an island a night's sail away from Max's home. And they're big, hairy, petty, grumbling, hungry beasts who like to rumble in the jungle.
And so when Max shows up one dark night, they don't know whether to eat him or crown him king. But Max, played by an Oregon boy named Max Records, shows them that he is just as unpredictable as they are when he goes on an impressive romp.
"I like the way you destroy stuff,"' says the monster Carol, Max's dangerously scary alter ego on the island. "There's a spark to your technique."
You can say the same thing about director Jonze, whose make-believe land has the shadowy otherworldly terrain of a child's subconscious. Here, you can meet your monsters, climb trees, run wild, howl loudly, explore freely, and yet still be afraid of the dark. The film wonderfully manifests the terror and loneliness of being an 8-year-old on the precipice of separation.
"This is all yours,'' monster Carol, played by actor James Gandolfini, tells Max. "You're the owner of this world."
Jonze's adaptation of Sendak's picture book has been a long time coming to the big screen. The illustrator and children's author approached the director in the late 90s about adapting his 1963 storybook, but the project was stalled after Jonze had creative disagreements with Universal Studios amd then moved it to Warner Bros.
In 2005, the director teamed up with Dave Eggers to write the screenplay, and a year later Jonze began filming in Australia. Then, early last year reports surfaced that the film was too scary for children and that Warner was considering reshooting the entire film.
The film debuts nationwide on October 16th. Though some may still consider the film scary, that’s because it conjures up real ambivalence and not the ear-piercing rattle of most children's movies.
The beautiful soundtrack by Alice O and the Kids successfully navigates viewers to and from the island, and delivers Max back to the safety of his home and worried mom. Jonze's soulful furry creatures, made by Jim Henson Co.'s Creature Shop, seem more melancholy than menacing. They bring to my mind odd strangers who are quick to engage in conversations with passers-by.
In short, the film is as much of a masterpiece as Sendak's original picture book. My guess is that audiences will eat it up.
