ALARIS' REVIEWS

21st December 2009
Where The Wild Things Are (2009)

Several months ago, I saw the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are, and it was one of the most brilliant, inspiring, and evocative trailers I'd ever seen. I knew the movie couldn't live up to that, and I was right for a number of reasons.

Where the Wild Things Are is based on the enduringly popular children's picture book of the same name by Maurice Sendak. The film expands on the book enormously, and turns a stylised story about childhood anger and imagination into an observational study in dysfunctional relationships. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The film revolves around Max, a destructive and intermittently creative boy who is unable to manage his daily feelings of anger, frustration, fear and loneliness. After a violent argument with his mother, Max runs away from home and finds himself in the land of the Wild Things.

I have to admit I've never been a huge fan of the original book, largely because Max is a bit of a brat. In the film, he's enough to make you swear off having kids. While you can sympathise with his frustration, his lack of impulse control and sometimes empathy are pretty abysmal. It's been said that Where the Wild Things Are is not so much a children's film as it is a film about childhood. I would say that it's a film about a certain kind of childhood, experienced by certain kinds of people, and those people are probably the ones who will get the most out of it.

Having said that, the fantasy creatures in the film are wonderfully realised, and their faces are incredibly expressive without being caricatures. The voice cast are superb, but with a line up including Forest Whitaker, James Gandolfini and Lauren Ambrose, you'd expect nothing less. Max Records is excellent in the lead role, capturing the vulnerability and destructiveness of a boy still at the mercy of his own vacillating emotions.

I had expected more joy and adventure in Where the Wild Things Are, but the film ends up being more of an understated psychological exploration of the Wild Things' dysfunctional community. There are allusions to broken dreams, failed relationships, ambitions never realised, and we see how inexplicable and complex the associated emotions can seem through a child's eyes.

Where the Wild Things Are is an unusual film, with evocative scenes, but no strong narrative drive. The director, Spike Jonz, is better known for his work on music videos, and I think this is why the two minute trailer blows me away, but the two hour film leaves me underwhelmed.

Where the Wild Things Are is a film about a certain kind of childhood, and a certain kind of adulthood, in a certain kind of melancholy world.

Verdict: A thoughtful, understated film that feels less fantasy adventure and more observational arthouse.

If you like naturalistic dramas about relationships, you might like this.

Read Clementine's review of Where the Wild Things Are (2009).