We’ve seen book to movie adaptations all the time in Hollywood, some good (“Lord of the Rings”), some not so good (“The Cat in the Hat”). The only thing about “Where the Wild Things Are” is that it isn’t a 500+ page book where you have to figure out what should be cut, no, “Where the Wild Things Are” consists of 48 pages (less than half of those containing writing) so the plot for the movie had to be tweaked and twisted, for this I was rather impressed with the story that the writers came up with (Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers; Jonze also directed). In the book Max, a single kid (as far as we know) puts on his wolf outfit and raises a ruckus, his mom then sends him to his room with no supper. From his room a forest grows until his entire room is engulfed and a personal boat for him appears where he travels for years on the sea to the land of the wild things. There he uses his magic trick by staring at them in their eyes and telling them, “BE STILL” he is then crowned king. His first decree is for a rumpus to occur and after that he decides he misses home and those who love him. He leaves for food and love from his mother.
The movie takes some liberties as it goes into more detail as to how he gets to the land of the wild things, the stories of the wild things and they’re background (more in depth; as they have names in the movie and are just known as the wild things in the book). Along with this more of the landscape is shown theatrically and most importantly what Max does with the Wild Things once in control is expanded in a different but in a fun way; much in a way you would assume a boy of Max’s age would want to do with the power he has. The cinematography was a beautiful throughout the vast regions of the world of the Wild Things, from the desert to the forest the world that Max explores and encounters throughout his stay making it one of the strongest aspects of this feature. The vibe and way he interacts with the Wild Things is perfect; the main positive aspect of this is that I felt the main theme of the book coming through in the movie as well. But the movie wasn’t all-good I found the movie overly depressing to be classified a “family/children’s movie” (this fact has been much discussed), the movie was very dark as Max doesn’t live a very happy home life and in the land of the Wild Things I found it over all very strange the way some of the movie was carried out, such as how the movie transitioned from one part of the plot to the next (granted they were going off little from the book) and the way the movie ends doesn’t give closer to how the family ends up. I left the movie theater very confused as to whether or not I enjoyed this movie, I knew for sure it wasn’t what I was expecting when I entered the theater but that was okay. Over all I thought the movies positives out weighed the negatives as a whole and was fairly entertained. But definitely would not recommend taking young children to view this or anyone looking to see a mainstream movie. This movie is worth a matinee viewing and maybe full price weekend viewing if you’re interested enough, but don’t expect too much out of this movie.
Over all Rating: 7 out of 10
The cinematography of WTWTA was impressive, no doubt, but it seemed to be missing a "spark" of some kind... maybe it was just too low energy from beginning to end for me (or at least after the first ten minutes)
ReplyDeleteThe cinematography was very impressive especially since they went off so little from the book. And I can see where you are coming from with the low energy, but it was also an interesting twist on Max's character and how he exerts himself in the real world vs. the land of the Wild Things.
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