Where the Wild Things Are

where_the_wild_things_are_james_gandolfini

I read the book when I was kid, but I don’t remember much about it beyond the pictures. That is what stuck with me over the years. I saw it with only that memory, but guessed I would enjoy it since Spike Jonze is an oddball. I wasn’t disappointed.

Max is a kid that seems to be lonely. His older sister would rather hang out with her friends than play with him. When her friends start playing a bit too rough with Max and destroys his igloo, he retaliates against her bedroom. When his mom comes home and is too busy with either work or a new boyfriend, he acts out. After demanding dinner and biting his mom, he runs off where he finds a boat that leads him to a magical land.

Where the Wild Things Are

I loved the special effects of the monsters. They were a combination of huge puppets with computer generated faces based on the actors providing the voices. I also enjoyed that each monster had a distinct character. James Gandolfini plays Carol, the one monster that is the most like Max. He gets his feelings hurt easily, but he really wants some attention. Carol likes KW, who is a feisty girl played by Lauren Ambrose. She likes Carol, but also gets sick of his temper tantrums. Catherine O’Hara is excellent as Judith, who is so negative, but you end up liking her grumpiness anyway. My favorite would have to be the little guy, Alexander voiced by Paul Dano. I learned that instead of having the voice actors record their parts separately, Spike Jonze had them all record together in a room so they could play off one another. I think this helped because the scenes where they were all together, talking over one another, were some of my favorite, especially when Alexander would mumble something in the background that would make me laugh the most.

When the monsters don’t know what kind of creature Max could be, he tells him he is a former king. They all fall asleep in a big pile of fuzz. When the monsters start putting demands on Max, like he was doing to others, he tries his best to make them happy by directing them to build a fort. What really enhanced these scenes was Karen O’s movie score. It was bouncy, fun, and fit the mood of playtime perfectly.

The movie is based on a children book, but I didn’t think it was a kid movie. Some parts of it were pretty intense and scary. I really felt it was a kid movie made for adults. Overall, I think the movie built upon the book. Instead of just having a kid escape into a make-believe world where he is king, he actually learns something and I think grows up a little by the end of the movie.

Rating: A

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