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I was worried I wouldn't love Where the Wild Things Are, even though I trust the artistic skills of the director, Spike Jonze and the screenwriter, Dave Eggers. I've committed Jonze's Being John Malkovich to heart, and Dave Eggers is a phenom, a heartbreaking work of staggering genius in and of himself. So I shouldn't have been scared--though Jonze was also responsible for the unfortunate Jackass parade, so there's that. And I'll admit, a part of me resonate with Tatyana when she wrote at Seriously, You're the Worst, "my barf radar put my gag reflex on high alert when I heard Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers were teaming up to produce Childhood: Brought to You By Hipsters."
I was worried because the classic storybook Where the Wild Things Are is too precious to ruin. It is such a simple, beautifully illustrated story of a boy struggling to learn to master the raw emotions of rejection, fear, anger, and longing. Max, a young boy wearing a wolf costume, threatens his dog with a fork, is banished to his room without supper by his mother, and is then transported by his imagination to where the wonderous and potentially dangerous Wild Things are. He triumphs over them, becomes their King, and then eventually decides to return home where he is welcomed back with soup that is still hot.
I didn't want Hollywood treacle or jackassery to ruin the purity of that simple, good tale.
Fortunately, Jonze and Eggers fought for the film they wanted to make, and it soars. Where the Wild Things Are is moody, emotionally resonant, unflinching in its devotion to portraying the depth of children's emotions, and visually expansive. Not merely a children's movie, it is a movie about the experience of childhood; really, it is about all of the angst-filled crisises humans must conquer. It is very much a movie for grown-ups.
Thankfully they didn't break the book's strength by expanding it into a film. I love the way that Eggars layered the tensions that stoke Max's anger. The book hints at isolation, with Max playacting without peers, presumably home alone with his mother and dog. The film expands this theme, with Max (played convincingly by Max Record) suffering from the absence of a father, betrayals and the sting of exclusion.
Similarly, whereas the book only suggests a classic Oedipal tension (with Max trying to out-wild the top dog, only to be rejected by his mother), the film hits this nail much harder. Max is unsuccessful in getting the attention of his busy mother (played by Catherine Keener), and is filled with rage because her boyfriend is at their house. Max acts out wildly, baring his teeth and biting her, and then literally runs away from all of it: the exclusion, betrayal, loneliness, anger, isolation, expectations to be civilized and quiet his deeply unsettled feelings--he runs away from the noise of feeling too much.
Max finds a boat, sails to the land of the Wild Things, where he confronts fierce monsters, ultimately becoming their King, confidante and sounding board. Finally, Max has found a world where he is obeyed and celebrated for his strong will, where it is wild and wicked and everything goes, but it is all ultimately controllable by Max.
Jonze succeeds in creating a magical inner world that is unusual for a film. The sweeping Australian landscape and the fantastic soundtrack by Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs front Katie O lend to the the depth of the wild place that is evoked by thoughtfully acted, sublimely destructive Wild Things.
Jill Pantozzi from Has Boobs, Reads Comics called the film "a love letter to childhood." She wrote this about the monsters:
The Wild Things themselves? Wow, just wow. A combination of live action, suitmation, animatronics, and CGI were used to make these creatures that strongly reminded me of the assorted characters from The Neverending Story and Labyrinth. It's no surprise really, Jim Henson's Creature Shop were responsible for the suits. The combined effects allow the Wild Things to feel tangible and genuine, right down to the actors expressions mixed in. It's subtle but you can absolutely see each actor's face in their respective monster.
It's a huge feat to say that the monsters embody the nexus of fantasy, fear, power and neurosis in a child's mind. If Jonze erred at all it was in the
