More Details

Studio:Warner Home Video

Director:Spike Jonze

Cast: Max Records

Running Time:101 minutes

Product Description

Max Records, Forest Whitaker, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Lauren Ambrose, Tom Noonan, Alice ParkinsonDirector: Spike Jonze

Amazon.co.uk Review

Through his handcrafted ode to the trials of childhood, Spike Jonze puts his own unique imprint on Maurice Sendak's enduring classic. In the prologue, 9-year-old Max (Max Records) stomps around the house, feeling neglected. When his mom (Catherine Keener) sends him to bed without supper, Max runs away (something he doesn't do in the book). He finds a boat and sails to a distant land where fuzzy monsters are raising a rumpus in the forest. Since his wolf suit allows him to fit right in, he joins the fray, catching the eye of Carol (James Gandolfini), who notes, approvingly, "I like the way you destroy stuff. There's a spark to your work that can't be taught." With that, they pronounce the diminutive creature king, hoping he can bring cohesion to their fractured family. After Max comes across Carol's scale-model town, he decides they should build a real one, but the project stalls as Alexander (Paul Dano) and Douglas (Chris Cooper) mope, Judith (Catherine O'Hara) browbeats Ira (Forest Whitaker), and Carol pines for K.W. (Lauren Ambrose), who prefers the company of owls Bob and Terry. Max realises he has to make a choice: stay with the wild things or return home, where he has to keep his aggressive impulses in check.

For readers of Sendak's slim tome, his decision won't come as a surprise, but Jonze ends the story on a lovely grace note. Until that time, the squabbling is a bit much--these monsters never stop talking--but Jonze, cowriter Dave Eggers, the Jim Henson Company, and singer/songwriter Karen O. have gone all-out to re-create the inner world of a child with as much empathy as was mustered for the inner adult world of Jonze's Being John Malkovich. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Reviews

- Beautiful and original, just like the book.

Took my kids to see this yesterday, despite a warning from a relative that it "wasn't much good" and "not for kids". My eight year old daughter was really moved by it and connected with all the themes and a good deal of the subtext too. It's not a "kids" film but it is a slightly more grown up film for kids if that makes sense. It is maybe more along the lines of Bridge to Terabithia in this respect. The visuals and effects are fantastic and the story, although extrapolated a great deal from the original few words of the book, doesn't resort to "disney" tricks to pull at the heartstrings. The pace is slow and moody and the Wild Things themselves are emotionally self-absorbed, which is the whole point surely? I can fully understand why people would walk out of the film. I can't understand why they expected any different from Spike Jonze. A similar thing happened to Nightmare Before Christmas, which was misunderstood, or mis-promoted at the time but it's now considered a classic and found its audience in the end. I imagine the same will be true of this. The world is a better place for having this film though which is daring, intelligent and unique.

- It's All True - But It's Amazing

Looking at the reviews on this page - especially the bad ones - I can't really disagreed with any of them. It seems that most negative feedback comes from people who were hoping for a fun and uplifting kids' movie. They're right - they didn't get it. They got something bigger and better - an beautiful and enchanting treatise on the nature of human relationships. I believe it can be enjoyed by kids (I saw it in the cinema with my four year old, and she sat through it pretty well, though not as well as, say, Ponyo) but that isn't really what its about. It is, as has been observed, a movie for adults about being a kid, and it captures that innocence and exuberance very viscerally. It also conveys the heartbreaking necessity of losing that innocence and reining in the exuberance, in a way that probably went straight over my daughter's head but left the adults in the group surreptitiously wiping their eyes. So, I would thoroughly recommend it on that basis - as a truly great work of magical existentialism, more for fans of Guillermo Del Toro than Horton Hears A Who.

- A film about children, not for them

This film is for anyone who still has memories of their childhood, and it is a film that will bring those memories crashing back to the surface. This is not strictly a film for kids, which is why many parents were disappointed when they took their children to see it. As I am only 16 myself this film was highly poignant, bringing home to me the fact that the dull world of adulthood beckons and that there's no turning back to the past. To add to this I could relate very much to Max, his home life and his wild imagination so I left the cinema feeling pretty emotional!

People have said that the film is plotless and that nothing happens, but that isn't stricly true. Max runs away from home and sails to the island of the Wild Things who, fearing his "magic powers", make him their king. They feel it is up to Max to keep the sadness away, to make the island a better place, but things don't necessarily work out for the best. The film itself is beautifully done, with golden-brown cinematography that evokes the atmosphere of a sunny autumn day just before winter arrives. Jonze has a great eye for art direction: for example the the Wild Things' homes are constructed from sticks in an organic, Henry Moore-esque fashion. It's a visual look which I definitely haven't seen in any other film. You would think that the source material by Maurice Sendak, being only 10 sentences long, is not nearly enough to make for a 100 minute film but writers Jonze and Dave Eggers have done an excellent job in fleshing out a story and the characters. The absence of a father in the original story here means a divorce, and all 7 of the Wild Things represent a different aspect of Max's personality.

The voice cast is superb and gives the film life and humour (I was surprised to learn that James Gandolfini of The Sopranos voices Carol, the Wild Thing who is concentrated on most and who is shown on the DVD cover). The music by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is highly unusual, a mixture of folk acoustic and a group of children shrieking and barking during the wild rumpus scene.

What too makes this such an unorthodox "family film" is the darker side that Jonze has added which I won't reveal here in case you haven't seen it yet, and although the film ends on a (sort of) happy note it still leaves the viewer feeling a bit down (in my case anyway). But this actually ends up being one of the film's strong points -- it is more emotionally engaging that way. It does have a few morals in it though they aren't as in-your-face as Disney; that being wild like Max doesn't always have the desired consequences. But most of all it does make you want to wear a wolf suit and go rampaging through the forest, howling with your own Wild Things and forgetting the pressures of the everyday world, if only for a short while.

- Unusual, masterful movie, not for everyone

This is a majestic, masterful movie. But it is also completely odd. It is one of the most original, dark, unusual fantastic kids movies ever made. However it is marmite, you will love it or hate it. It is not like a disney/Pixar movie where the plot is light and fluffy and all encompassing (and I not knocking that I loved Kung fu panda, cars etc). My wee boy of 6 loved it!!! It is a kids movie. However it is exactly like the book in that it was considered too dark and strange for children when it came out. The plot differs substantially from the book, but it keeps the creative, imaginitive, psychological aspect of the book. The acting is great. Watch it before you give it to your kids because just like with marmite you might think "what is this....?". but you may also just find a masterpiece

- Uniquely styled, stunning, and very moving

This is an absolutely beautiful and very moving 'alternative' kids film. It's suitable for kids, but it's very far from being your usual Disney, and as long as you don't start watching it thinking it'll be like a Disney film, you'll enjoy it. Be warned that it's a bit of a heart-wrencher in parts. I probably shouldn't mention this but my girlfriend- a fully grown adult- was weeping at this movie, though not at the ending.

The 'monsters' from the Jim Henson Company are absolutely stunning, giant furry creatures with incredibly expressive faces that jump and roll and fall all over the place. Max Records puts in a brilliant performance as 9-year-old Max. The Blu-ray is packed with extras, including a 25-minute short film and all the 'behind the scenes' you'd expect. Maurice Sendak was an executive producer and has overseen something which manages to turn his original book (which you could read in 2 minutes flat) into an 80 minute movie yet somehow remains true to it in every way.

In some ways this made me think of the 1980s movie "Labyrinth", which was a big favourite of mine. There's a lot in common with that, it's a bit like a modern-day "Labyrinth", except
without any songs in it.

In fact if one part of the movie was a let-down it was possibly the soundtrack, which was a little bit too dependent on the bog-standard female-solo-singer-songwriter sound of Karen O and could have been a bit more adventurous and expressive.

So, for one last time it's NOT A DISNEY FILM but it's stunning.