This movie doesn’t play.
This movie, based on the Caldecott-winning children’s book by Maurice Sendak (which is pretty serious as well), has been expanded to include themes that could have conceivably been touched on the book. Perhaps this is due to the close friendship Wild Things director Spike Jonze has with Sendak-in fact, Sendak has wanted Jonze to do a movie version of Wild Things for a very long time. Luckily, the perfect storm-cast, setting, crew, music, and technology-came together for Jonze to create a fantastic rendition of the book.
The movie, like the book, stars Max (Max Records), a young, rambunctious boy. But in the movie, we get to see the context for his rambunctiousness-his older sister (Pepita Emmerichs) is drifting away from him, and his mother (Catherine Keener), a divorcee, has a boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo). Max tries to cope with the changes in his life, but because of bouts of depression, lashes out at his family in very violent ways. Feeling unloved and unwanted, he runs away and lands on the island of the Wild Things.
The commercials and trailers do a good job of showing how much heart and depth this movie has, but nothing is actually like going to see it yourself. The Wild Things have names-Carol (James Gandolfini), Ira (Forest Whitaker), Judith (Catherine O’Hara), Douglas (Chris Cooper), KW (Lauren Ambrose), The Bull (Michael Berry, Jr.) and Alexander (Paul Dano)-and distinct personalities. The emotions the Wild Things go through- particularly Carol, who reflects Max’s own insecurities and anger-are complex, adding a dimension never thought possible with the delightfully drawn characters found in Sendak’s book.
Carter Burwell’s sparse score, along with songs by Karen O and the Kids, create the perfect musical backdrop for Wild Things, being just as haunting, beautiful, otherworldly, and downright creepy as the Wild Things themselves. The physical backdrop of the rough and scary terrains of Australia were shot in just the right way to make the landscape seem like something out of a Salvador Dali dreamscape painting. This scene in particular shows what I’m talking about extremely well:
Also, the technology used to bring the Wild Things to life is a feat in itself. The Wild Things are part suitmation, part animatronics, part CG, which brings a better and more realistic heft to them than if they were solely made in the computer. The effect of these three technologies also makes the Wild Things seem wilder since they are actually interacting with their environment. I think this is one of the biggest attributes to the movie being such a success; our ability to suspend belief doesn’t have to work so hard since the Wild Things are actually there in the “flesh”, so to speak.
Even though this is being marketed as a sophisticated children’s movie, some adults might find fault with it, because along with the themes of depression and anxiety, there is mild cursing (from humans and Wild Things alike), violence, and other extreme behavior. This movie is teaching life lessons in an extremely powerful way, so if you don’t want your children exposed to the level of emotion and violence present in this movie at the theatre, just wait until the movie comes out on DVD. Even still, expect to be a bit uncomfortable, because as strange as this sounds, the movie’s emotional impact can be jarring at times.
Also wait for the DVD if you don’t want to cry at the theatre and would rather bawl your eyes out in the comfort of your own home; I went into the movie knowing it was going to be deep, but I didn’t expect to hold back tears at least four times and actually spill some the fifth time. Others around me were crying as well. Just make sure that if and when you see this in the theatres that you bring some tissue.
Overall, this movie is one that I’ve been waiting for a while now, and to finally see it is great. But even more so, this movie, like blockbuster juggernaut The Dark Knight and to a degree, Watchmen, will become known as one of the movies that changed the face of storytelling. I’ll be so bold as to attach my name to that statement.
Want to know which Wild Thing is which? Check out their pictures below:
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- Ira
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- Carol
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- Alexander
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- Judith
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- K.W.
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- Douglas (l) and K.W.(r)
