Where the Wild Things Are
Dir: Spike Jonze
2009
*****
Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are was one of the most anticipated films of 2009 and it split opinion big time. It's become a real love it or hate it film although I do feel many have missed the point, as they did upon the book's initial release. I believe it to be a perfect adaption of the book (which I have read many times) which was always open to interpretation. I think Jonze's style was perfect for a live action version, he really understands Maurice Sendak's writing but also adds his own ideas to the mix, tapping into the mindset of a wild and but very normal child. Sendak purposely made the 'Wild Things' grotesque and gave them names of his family members who were all killed in the holocaust, as that is how he saw them as a child. It's a very personal story and I wonder if it worked as a form of therapy for the writer. Essentially, it is about the mindset of a child, the anger and frustration that most children experience. It is the balance of fear and comfort, the book and the film handle this in different ways but both handle it with a unique and genuine tenderness. I found this tenderness to be quite astonishing, I'm a sucker for good puppetry but the big furry monsters here goes beyond anything that has come before, unsurprisingly developed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop and endorsed by Maurice Sendak himself. I think the biggest criticism was that the film was slow but I thought it's dreamlike pace was one of it's highlights. It could be accused of being somewhat melancholy, something I don't think many parents want to encourage but I think it is vital to explore these realms of consciousness for a persons development, the popularity of the book, and now the film, backs this up somewhat I believe.