Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
In late 2008, it was announced that Maurice Sendak’s 1963 children’s book Where The Wild Things Are would receive a large budget adaption to the big screen to be released October 2009. With Spike Jonze directing/writing, Sendak himself assisting in producing and Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O signed on to produce the soundtrack, the film was set up to be a piece of children’s wonderland transformed into a stunning reality.
Months prior to the release, trailers such as these were released, using Arcade Fire in the background and shooting out tag lines such as ‘Inside all of us is… hope, fear, adventure’. The trailer made you want to see this film. Seeing the first visual evidence of the film, I myself was amazed by how stunningly true costuming and setting had stayed to the original illustrations of Sendaks 1963 work. Seeing Max Records in the wolf costume and crown, it was purely magical to see the still frames of the book running around from the ocean to the desert.
Then the film was released. Seeing it at the cinemas, i had overhyped the hell out of this film. Everything about it said ‘perfect’. Unfortunately the film missed such great heights.
To me & the thinking majority, Wild Things was a story of escapism mixed with the simple message, ‘home is where the heart is’. The book is an amazing expedition in the mind of an 8 year old boy venturing through the forests in his room, yet the film in question, put bluntly, placed the kid in the middle of group therapy.
There are 8 ‘Wild Things’ in this film. In the original book, we only really explore the strong bond Max makes with group leader Carol. However, Jonze decides to delve into the minds of these creatures, and showcases a bunch of unlikeable and joyless figures. Varying from teenage anxiety to social exile, the wild things practically represent a modern high school playground. Most of the time they don’t enjoy themselves.
This being said, there were two scenes during the journey which stood out. Both of them involved the creatures playing a game. Throwing clumps of clay etc. at each other, it was in these scenes where Jonze created an enjoyable escape from the modern dull world. However these scenes were brought back down to a lacklustre level by somebody taking something too seriously.
By the end of the film’s resolution, i found myself strongly disliking nearly all of the wild things, who’s attitude led to Max apologising for their actions.
However, this film did have an upside. Visually, Wild Things hit the nail head on. It was carefully created to be Max’s fantasy world. A forest with the tallest of trees and a desert with the finest of sand, Wild Things managed to make us enjoy being there. However, when it came to the inhabitants of the world of imagination, it seemed Jonze was saying nothing but- ‘humans can be mean, and in today’s world, a child’s escapism isn’t even enough to be untainted by the prejudice and hatred’.
So all in all, it could be said that although the story of the wild things was substantial for a picture book, when transformed into a feature film, more was needed to give it strength and meaning. Unfortunately, the new storylines and character arcs which Jonze created did not fall into place, being a complete ‘downer’ when placed next to the simple beauty that the original story entertained us with
