REVIEW: Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

By DANIEL J. CASSAVAUGH

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2009

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Where the Wild Things Are

Rated: PG

Starring: Max Records

Runtime: 94 minutes

My Rating: 2 stars.

I don't think Where the Wild Things Are could have every really succeeded. It's just too memorable and too good of a book.

“Where the Wild Things Are” – the book – is so successful because it lets the reader imagine what he wants. A child's imagination cannot be put on screen.

For one, it's different than any other child. For two, parents who remember the book remember more their memories about it. I did.

So when those images came to life on screen, I didn't connect with them. Neither did any of the adults there. They were mostly bored.

The kids, however, who either hadn't experienced the 10-sentence book or had no inkling of what a Wild Thing is, were delighted. Most were laughing hysterically, especially the child behind me.

Especially the child behind me.

I was fighting consciousness throughout the final 20 minutes. That's because writer-director Spike Jonze ran out material. He tried to make each sentence nine minutes on film. Instead he made each one six minutes, realized he had 30 minutes to fill and turned a film that was quite good into a soap opera.

He just didn't know how to get to the end. It was a good effort though.

Where the Wild Things Are follows Max (Max Records) as he runs away from home and discovers where the wild things are. It's a movie about the innocence and imagination of youth.

What comes on screen is a pseudo political drama and commentary on tyranny and socialism. Yes, it's there. Go watch it. Kids won't get it. I did, parents did, and it was all very disappointing.

Where the Wild Things Are just doesn't work the way Jonze did it, despite the fantastic-looking characters and original story. He carries it well for an hour, but fumbles it at the end. Unfortunately the result is a movie that started with high energy and ended as an epic all because Jonze couldn't drag a full movie out of the classic children's tale. Two stars.