Director Spike Jonze knows he’s treading on sacred ground with his big-screen version of Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are. This seminal tale is a favorite of children, ages 4 to 90. While the book itself is slight, its theme of hanging on to your youthful imagination is one that resonates with all who read it. Be that as it may, it hardly seems the sort of material that could be expanded into a feature-length film. If Jonze’s work has a fault, it’s that it nearly overstays its welcome.
Max (Max Records) is a precocious preteen with a lot on his mind. Dealing with his parents’ divorce, a sister who ignores him and a mother who’s spread too thin (Catherine Keener), he’s left alone a good deal of the time. His vivid imagination helps him fill the void but he feels a great deal of anger and frustration because of his situation. His behavior is erratic and, at times, violent. After an explosive argument with his mother, he leaves his home and sets sail on a rough sea until he reaches a mysterious island. There, he finds an assortment of odd creatures from a dysfunctional tribe. Carol (voice by James Gandolfini) is Max’s Id, the personification of his repressed feelings given free reign. The boy, who the creatures name their king in his wish-fulfillment fantasy, does his best to build a society with his new friends, but it’s a dicey proposition as personality clashes erupt that threaten them in unexpected ways.
At times scary and more than a bit violent, the film offers a unique vision of childhood pain and abandonment. Max only wishes to exercise some measure of control in his life, yet finds that having to contend with other wild things is an exercise in futility. In seeing this, he gains a greater understanding of his mother, which forges a stronger bond between them.
Shot in Australia, the film utilizes the continent’s various climates to marvelous effect, creating a place that straddles the line between reality and the imagination of a 10-year-old. The wild things seem perfectly in tune with their environment as well, not real, yet springing organically from this place and Max’s mind. One gets the impression that Jonze was reluctant to leave, as the film bogs down during Max’s reign and flirts with stalling altogether. However, the film’s unique aesthetic and the story’s primal pull save it in the end. While it fails to deliver the emotional knockout punch Jonze was striving for, I was still happy to see Max return to the warm dinner that was waiting for him.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].
