Children are so hard to incorporate into film and theater. The actors always are pesky, uncooperative, and rarely any good. However Max Records of “Where The Wild Things Are” stands out among today’s young actors with composure, emotion, and charm.
Records plays Max, an innocent boy who throws tantrums in a bratty, boisterous manor. He acts exactly as a child should though, beginning the film playing in the snow, throwing snowballs, and building an igloo. He ends up getting hurt and crying like a child should, but in return we see the wrath of Max and the love of his mother. Later Max plays out the scene from the book step for step by throwing a tantrum at the kitchen table and gets sent to bed. Flash forward and we see Max traveling to his own world toward the wild things. Max interacts and has an uneven time with the creatures. We see love, hate, jealousy, and a variety of emotions as they spend their time together. Eventually though Max has to return home, just as all things end.
What backstory there is in the film is great. Director Spike Jonze really has expanded the short children’s book very well. You see a well-established relationship between Max and his family and the pain of abandonment the Max feels. The wild things build on Max’s character even further, as they are versions of his persona and psyche, giving you a look at what Max feels about himself and his position in the world around him. I even like the changes Jonze made into how Max travels to the island.
Jonze also added depth to the wild things-Max relationship, giving it a purpose. The story always seemed to be Max creating his own world with it following his imagination. The film flips that, and you see Max evolving within the world. He faces danger quite frequently as well. I never felt that the danger was justified though. This is a made up world, as the source material is, and I never could get past that element. Max faces cliffs to scale, monsters that crush, and falling trees. I just am a bit of a cynic here because I am attached to the book. Believe me though: Max does face dangers.
The wild things drop jaws. They look incredible, but even that is an understatement. The mix of Jim Henson costumes and CG emoting faces is brilliant, and it brings each of these giant characters to life more than any creature film has to date. I thought King Kong was impressive, but these guys blow him out of the water. They also are more lively and fun than him. The tangible fur, horns, and bodies add a dimension to the film that computer graphics really cannot achieve.
The voice talent among the creatures is very impressive as well. James Gandolfini plays the main wild thing, Carol, and his voice is perfect for it, with pitch perfect inflections to emote the angst and anger of a tormented creature (mirroring Max’s behavior from earlier). Also voicing in this are Chris Cooper, (trainer in “Seabiscuit,” also in “Bourne Identity”) Paul Dano, (“Little Miss Sunshine” & “There Will Be Blood”) Forest Whitaker, (“Last King of Scotland”) and Catherine O’Hara. (mom in “Home Alone”)
The writing for the film is outstanding. The dialogue for Max feels like a child’s real speech. I was drawn right into the writing in the opening scenes, when Max tells his mom a story. He rambles on using “then” every sentence, just as a youngster would normally do. That story itself also has ridiculous elements put together, that it seems like a child imagined it on the spot.
This is not a kids movie. Max is spoiled, the monsters are meant to be scary, and the themes get pretty intense. The topics of abandonment and anti-social behavior are not light by any means. Max simply wants attention from anyone, not necessarily a big show of it though. His outburst simply is the culmination of the degraded relationship between himself and his sister. As Max wraps up his time in his land, we see intense images of the destructive nature of the wild things that may scare some youngsters.
It is handheld shaky camera for the entire film, but that is to illustrate the energy of its subject. I highly recommend “Where the Wild Things Are” for the great story telling, style, and return to the nostalgia of childhood.
Grade: B+/A- (3 out of 4)
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