[Movie] Where The Wild Things Are

I hope you have all read the original source material of Where The Wild Things Are, or at least had it read to you. If you have you will probably understand the problem that Spike Jonze faced with making this film. The book is, at most, 10 minutes long, even with time spent roaring and looking at the wonderful pictures, the film is 100 minutes long. How do you keep the heart of the book, and maintain interest, for that length of time.

There was also the issue of not turning this into a Fantastic Mr. Fox. That is to say making an adult film out of kid’s material, and still marketing it to kids. There have been allegations of this aimed at Where The Wild Things Are, some stemming from Jonze himself saying he wanted to make a film about childhood, more than a film for children, and the PG rating awarded to the film, but I don’t buy it.

Where The Wild Things Are Poster

The plot is similar to that of the book, in that it follows the character of Max, played brilliantly by young Max Records, who is an unruly child. He is completely out of control and, in the book, is sent to bed without any dinner, in the film he runs away having just bitten his mother on the shoulder. In both book and film, following the incident he travels to the land of the Wild Things. Whilst there he encounters the Wild Things and becomes their king. In the book the Things are never given names, this is changed in the film, but the messages and values all stay the same.

Whilst the book never fully explains why it is Max is so unruly, it is explained somewhat in the film. His sister ignores him, her friends, during a snowball fight, forget that Max isn’t as big as they are, and end up breaking his igloo. This combined with his mum’s new boyfriend meaning Max feels she will begin to love him less, all make Max go too far, and all stay with him when he visits The Land of the Wild Things.

There is a Gilliamesque feel to this land. Whilst clearly a fantasy world, it is handled in a real way, all down to the fact that for a child their fantasy can often be very real. With that said, it is well worth noting that kids watching the film are more likely to be aware of this change. Max never seems to feel threatened by the Wild Things, and even when an arm is severed, there is sand, not blood.

A PG rating does not stop this being a kid’s film. It may well stop you taking your four-year-old, but Toy Story was a PG film, and that is still up there with the best of all children’s films. Wild Things, however, also holds something that makes this a film kids need to see. Puppets. Whilst the facial expressions were finished with CGI, the key word there is finished, and some of the long-shot jumps were computer generated, the Things were people in suits, and most things were real. This makes the whole film lot more “real” and serves to further connect the audience to what goes on. When you combine this with the fact the voice actors were made to act out the scenes instead of stand in a glass booth, you get monsters that kids believe in, and even adults do too.

The BBFC mentions “emotional intensity” in its classification, and as always they have done my job for you. Throughout the film there are highs and lows. You feel every one of them thanks to the brilliant cast and shaky camera shots that work. I’ve waited some time to say I can wholeheartedly recommend a film, and then two come along at once.

Both this film and The White Ribbon come with my wholehearted recommendation this week, although both clearly targeted at different audiences. Whilst some younger children may be scared Where The Wild Things Are, it is a true family film.

Chances are you may have already been dragged to see the 3D, tall, blue smurfs, and if you haven’t already taken your kids to see this, may I advise you do so, you deserve it. If you don’t have kids, go anyway, you’ll probably still enjoy it.

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This content is reposted from the Random Blog of Random Blogginess. The original post can be found here. It is used, with permission, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

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