I have one word to describe Spike Jonze's latest effort:
Sublime.
That's what I kept thinking to myself as this little created wonder-of-a-film went along. Now, it's not really what you expect out of a kid's film. I know. I know. We've already read the press clippings about the weight of expectations from Maurice Sendak fans AND the constant meddling by money grubbing studio execs, who seem to always be the true Hollywood villains.
Yet, what Spike Jonze has done, in only his third film, is bring to the screen a film that completely encapsulates what it's like to be a kid. And I'm not talking about the smart-alecky, precocious, little pischers we are accustomed to suffering on screen for the last 30 years. Our hero Max (played by the aptly named Max Records) is a kid as flawed and real as you can imagine. He's easily hurt, lonesome, bored, bratty, sad, goofy, and has same amount of adventure we all had in our hearts at his age.
After dealing with some Big Sister issues, Max is faced with another dilemma - frozen corn. Man, I've been there. Something is so depressing to a kid as frozen vegetables. Actually, as an adult, frozen vegetables STILL don't hold much allure. But I digress.
Then Max gets to witness a possible stranger taking his mother's attentions away from him and his hour of need (with a kid, any time they're bored IS their hour of need). Katherine Keener plays Max's mother with a weary beauty that had me on her side the second I see her. I adore that woman. Once he views a bit of intimacy between this 'stranger' (Mark Ruffalo, still underwhelmed with him, even with only a few lines), all hell breaks loose with this young boy's sensibilities and judgement. And he runs away.
He runs so far that he just happens to run to a boat that, within his mind's eye, takes him to a large island with exotic terrain. And this where our adventure truly begins.
A little side note: when Max gets his cat pajamas/suit wet during his voyage, I kept thinking,
"That kid has to be so cold and miserable."
Once Max is on the island, he sets out to do what every kid wants to do - explore his world. And guess what? He finds MONSTERS. Shocking, no. But these monsters seem to talk like rational and irrational adults, filled with the same frailties and personality quirks you'd find within an office or large family. And what really caught me off guard, in a great way, was the power of the actors' voices inhabiting the monsters, especially James Gandolfini. I mean, I HATE his voice. I find it so annoying and nasally. Yet here, it fits. Perfectly. And Catherine O'Hara, once again, finds her place as the shrew of the group. Some young indie darlings find their groove as well, with Paul Dano and Lauren Ambrose doing their duty. The other name actors that do their voicework above and beyond are Chris Cooper and Forrest Whitaker.
The special effects, albeit subtle and not over-the-top, sorta took my breath away at times. The creatures come alive in a way that Sid and Marty Kroft could never figure out, with technology and money constraints taken into consideration of course.
Finally, Jonze nails the tone. The tone of the book and the tone of what it's like as a kid to feel sad and lonely and held hostage by a big scary world. And he brings us to the same amount of glee and reckless abandon when Max the King convinces everyone to build a 'special' fort with underground tunnels or have a dirt clod fight to make the boredom and hurt feelings go away.
I mean, what kid doesn't want to build the perfect fort?
What kid doesn't want to have a dirt clod or snowball fight?
We are shown that all these monsters are aspects of Max, or kids in general. And when he's confronted with the same behavior that he perpetrated against his loved ones, it gives our little hero pause. And the little actor has the ability to express everything he feels in his facial expressions. And that's HUGE. And my heart went to him. When he decides what must be done for the good of himself and his new friends, a big crocodile tear when down my cheek.
And the ending is so quiet and perfect, I wanted to slap Jonze on the back myself and say, "Way to go, man. You did it."
My only thought after absorbing this film and savoring its feelings it brought me was this: What would he have done with Harold & the Purple Crayon?
Where the Wild Things Are is one of the great ones. I went to see it and I adored it. I agree with you with the Sid and Marty Kroft comment. You know, I couldn't stop thinking how much of that Sesame Street and Kroft look went into the film (and definitely into the wild things themselves), and yet improving it so that the look and the situations had a real resonance on the realities of childhood. I keep hearing how dark this movie became, and I sort of see where they are coming from (especially when Carol rips his friend's arm out). But this monstrosity and anger is part of being a child. Children can be monsters (I know I was). So this didn't bother me at all and only added to the authenticity of this movie's depiction of childhood. It would not be a problem for me taking any of my nephews or son to see this movie.
ReplyDeleteHowever, although the book is addressed to really young children, the movie is for children over six years old. The reason for this is not the supposed darkness of the film, but because kids will be lost with the small and quiet moments in Max's land. My four-year-old, to whom we have read Sendak's book almost from day one, did not care much for the movie (and he was able to sit through and enjoy Wall-E). Yet he was still ecstatic of being able to see Max and the wild things moving around in their forest.