Where the Wild Things
Where the Wild Things Are is an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's acclaimed 1963 children's story of the same name. The fact that it was filmed in 2006 and took till now to be released because of differences of opinion between the Director and Warner Bros. doesn’t bode well for the picture. Twelve year old Max Records is terrific as Max, a lonely kid with a vivid imagination. He runs off from home in a bad fitting wolf costume as a way of acting out in protest of mom’s (Catherine Keener) new boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo - with only one line). A convenient sailboat takes him to a remote island inhabited by a ragtag group of gullible but unpredictable monsters. Max uses his imaginative storytelling to concoct a reason for the wild things to make him their king which they do as an alternative to making a meal out of Max. Remarkably Max’s crazy ideas initially put the island into order and the new king and is subjects spend a lot of time playing at a child like level until dissention creeps into their ranks. In an age of rampant CGI there’s very little of that here which is at once a retro innovation and at the same time a curse. Relying on expert puppetry rather than flashy computer wizardry left this audience member finding it a little hard to believe in the monsters as anything other than guys in goofy heads and hairy suits. One is less engaged emotionally when it looks like you’re watching a football mascot convention.