Review: Where the Wild Things Are

It goes without saying (since I already said it months ago) that my expectations were extremely high for Where the Wild Things Are.  I tried my best to keep them in check, but there was no hope.  Now that I’ve finally seen it, it’s taken me a couple of days to feel ready to sit down and write about the experience.  In a way, the movie doesn’t feel real to me; it feels like a dream I had.  With a movie like this, I can only regard that sensation as a mark of overwhelming success on the part of the filmmakers.

From here on, there will be what you could call spoilers, but if you’ve read the book you already know that Max’s supper is still hot at the end, so you’re probably safe reading on (but see the movie as soon as possible anyway).

To begin with, the structure of the narrative was everything I could have hoped for.  From the trailers, I was expecting Max to travel back and forth more than once between the real world and the home of the Wild Things, which I felt would be an unfortunate departure from the book.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is not the case.  He only goes there and back once, preserving the importance of the journey, and of the goodbyes between Max and the creatures he’s befriended.

On the other hand, there was one key point of departure from the book that I felt was absolutely the right choice.  In the film, Max’s bedroom does not become the forest.  Instead, he leaves his house and finds an actual forest through which to travel.  I’m fine with the “it’s all a dream” aspect of the book’s story, but in films that’s already an overdone trope that’s very rarely satisfying.  Of course we know the Wild Things are all in Max’s head- where else would they be?  We don’t need to have that telegraphed for us with scenes of Max falling asleep and waking up.  For Max, it’s all really happening, and we get to see it that way too.

The Wild Things themselves are as perfect as they could be.  First of all, every Wild Thing that appears in the book is in the movie (unless you count the Sea Monster as a Wild Thing, which I never have).  Secondly, there are no new Wild Things created for the movie.  We meet a few other creatures in that world, but they’re all recognizable animals rather than hulking amalgams.  The combination of costumes and CGI used for the Wild Things creates a phenomenal effect.  They have real weight to them in a way that CGI creatures rarely do, but their faces are far more expressive than animatronics would allow.

James Gandolfini gives an exceptional performance as an emotionally erratic Wild Thing named Carol.  The other Wild Things are great too, particularly Lauren Ambrose as KW (the redheaded one) and Chris Cooper as Douglas (the cockatoo headed one).  Nobody does a growly monster voice, which is a relief (fortunately, Christian Bale was not asked to play a Wild Thing).  The kid who plays Max is so perfect that it feels like he stepped off the page, and Catherine Keener gives us some memorable moments in a small role as his mother.

The thing that really won me over about Where the Wild Things Are, more than anything else, is its emphasis on the emotional core of childhood.  This is the most nakedly, unapologetically psychological kids’ movie I’ve seen in a long time.  I love that the story of the Wild Things is all about their relationships.  There’s no villain – no evil force threatening their homes which Max is their only hope of defeating – there’s just a collection of big, clumsy creatures who are even worse than Max at controlling their emotions.  The Wild Things exist to teach Max how to be a part of a family, and they serve this function elegantly.  There’s no pithy moral or “this is what I’ve learned” speech, just a growing understanding that loving others doesn’t always make it easy to get along with them, and that everyone has their monstrous moments, even those people we care about the most.

There’s a lot more I could say about this film (I haven’t even touched on the music, the cinematography, or that dog), but I’m going to end this review for now and leave the door open for more posts later.  I can’t wait to hear other reactions (I’m sure they won’t all be as positive as mine), so if you’ve seen it, let me know what you think.