Review: Where the Wild Things Are

Wild at Heart

This film probably has the second greatest magic trick seen in film this year, right next to The Hangover's ability to make people believe that it was a successful comedy. Upon the very first glance, there's an assumption that a film based on a literally paper-thin source material might not meet the challenge of offering a film that is stimulating to the adult mind. Then, when you actually dive into the film itself, there's an uneasy pace about it that shifts dramatically from scene to scene, and it is a mystery if the film will ever find the right tone of consistency. But then, with a slight of hand and a bit of flash, the trick is pulled off. You suddenly start being pulled into this emotionally rich world that offers a buffet of topics to invest in. All this is done without you realizing what has happened, and you fall in love with ever second of the piece. It's perhaps one of the greatest tricks a film can pull off, and I'm glad to say that it has been successfully done here.

Maurice Sendak's uber-classic 1963 children's story has now become basic reading in almost every young child's library. There's hardly a person I know that isn't aware of the young, restless boy named Max, whose naughty behavior sent him to a fantastical island where giant creatures roamed. That incredibly simple story is the premise for this more complex storyline, which finds Max (played by the aptly named Max Records), the youngest sibling in what appears to be a divorced home. After a huge spat with his Mother (Catherine Keener), he runs away and finds a boat. That boats takes him across huge ocean waves and eventually to the island filled with those monsters. But here, they have personalities, like the ostracized little goat Alexander (voiced by Paul Dano), the couple in love Ira (Forest Whitaker) and Judith (Catherine O'Hara), the collective second-in-command Douglas (Chris Cooper) and the de facto leader Carol (James Gandolfini), who proclaims Max their king.

The question has been asked whether or not this is a children's film. I'd say yes and no, but that is a brilliant line that Spike Jonze walks on. It is true that the rather dark presentation of the monsters at times, particularly their very expressive faces, and the fact that most of the book's readers are adults now suggest that this is meant more for nostalgia. Jonze delivers well on that note. However, he also creates a world that seems through a child's gaze: most of the shots are at Max's eye level, and the sometimes erratic pace gives a parallel to a child's own ever changing emotions. The balance is well found through Jonze's direction.

It's particularly amazing how Jonze and his co-writer Dave Eggers have managed to take a sort of nothing story and turned it into a rich piece. The answer to that is they have not dumbed down their film to make it overly simple. Every emotional peak that appears within those few sentences of the story are revealed here, but they carry so much more emotional weight because the story has allowed the time and personalities to flourish. Jonze and Eggers have done the greatest service: paying respect to the source without being shackled by it.

Max is a very difficult character to try and pull off, and there are times in the beginning when it doesn't seem like Records lives all the way up to that challenge. Then, when he arrives at the island, he pulls you into a strong emotional core, made all the more impressive because he is conversing with creatures that physically cannot converse back. It's one of the few remarkable child performances that doesn't feel gimmicky. Also, every voice actor is perfectly cast here, and I wouldn't change any one of them. Dano's trademark shy voice works perfect for Alexander, Cooper's authoritative tone compliments Douglas's organized personality, and Gandolfini breathes every emotion he can into Carol and makes us care for him. Every outburst feels genuine, and the amazingly subtle visual effects for facial movements on large monster suits add to the wonderment.

I admit that I was a little weary in that first part, and I'm still not convinced it all works there. However, once the film gets going, it completely pulled me in, and before I knew it, I was laughing, happy, and depressed at all the right moments, and it all felt genuine to the film. Spike Jonze and his company should receive high praises for their work here (are you listening, Oscar?). They have taken a work that's as bare as bone and used it to create a world that I found just as complex as the so-called "real one" outside. Mr. Jonze continues to show that he is one of the industry's best magicians, and his latest effort, I think, is his best trick yet. ***1/2 / ****; GRADE: A-