Spike Jonzes interpretation of "Where the Wild Things Are" is a heartfelt film that captures the essence of what childhood means and the way a kid, in this case the nine year old Max, feels and perceives the world. Jonze refrains from forcing a conventional story-structure upon Sendraks wonderful and magical trip and instead focuses solely on feelings.
The desperation and loneliness of a child that just begins to try and understand the complicated world of the grownups are as perfectly captured and reenacted by the personalities of the wild things as are the feelings of joy, excitement and playfulness, the very feelings that nobody will never experience for a second time and are reserved for the kids when they discover the world they have been born into for the first time.
Max Records gives a splendid performance as little boy Max and helps as much to make the gigantic wild things real than the superb computer techniques, if not more. Opinions about Jonzes film are going both ways in the forum and to some degree I can understand the often stated critique, that only people who want to like this movie are able to do so. It is probably true that to appreciate what Jonze did with Sendraks book one has to want to see the beauty in it, even in the sad and melancholic direction that "Where the Wild Things Are" often takes. Because just like the film, Sendraks book is not one of those happy and careless books for children that pleases simply with colors, monsters and a happy end, but rather a bittersweet take on a children's way to cope with the problems and tasks of the 'real world' that all too soon become what life revolves around.
For those who have not yet forgotten what it was to be a kid, how it felt like to build forts in the snow, how it felt like to be yelled at, how it felt like to know exactly what one is supposed do and do exactly the opposite and for those who remember how to roar like a real wild thing, for them this film was made.
The desperation and loneliness of a child that just begins to try and understand the complicated world of the grownups are as perfectly captured and reenacted by the personalities of the wild things as are the feelings of joy, excitement and playfulness, the very feelings that nobody will never experience for a second time and are reserved for the kids when they discover the world they have been born into for the first time.
Max Records gives a splendid performance as little boy Max and helps as much to make the gigantic wild things real than the superb computer techniques, if not more. Opinions about Jonzes film are going both ways in the forum and to some degree I can understand the often stated critique, that only people who want to like this movie are able to do so. It is probably true that to appreciate what Jonze did with Sendraks book one has to want to see the beauty in it, even in the sad and melancholic direction that "Where the Wild Things Are" often takes. Because just like the film, Sendraks book is not one of those happy and careless books for children that pleases simply with colors, monsters and a happy end, but rather a bittersweet take on a children's way to cope with the problems and tasks of the 'real world' that all too soon become what life revolves around.
For those who have not yet forgotten what it was to be a kid, how it felt like to build forts in the snow, how it felt like to be yelled at, how it felt like to know exactly what one is supposed do and do exactly the opposite and for those who remember how to roar like a real wild thing, for them this film was made.