Max Record in "Where the Wild Things Are"
courtesy of Sony Home Entertainment
“Wild Thing”

To be fair let me say up front I have never read Maurice Sendak’s children’s book WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, so I didn’t come to view the film version of this story with any kind of awe or reverence. I watched the movie cold, and I left it cold to the idea of a world where wild things lived and filled the void in a young boy’s life.

Spike Jones has adapted Sendak’s few sentences of storyline into a full length movie about a young boy named Max who feels isolated and alone in his home. His sister ignores him and his mother is busy with her work and her new boyfriend. The boy becomes rebellious and runs away. He finds a boat and sets out on the open seas. There he floats to a world where wild things live.

These large creatures accept the young boy and decide to make him king. The boy loves the attention and tries to rule his new kingdom. It is a place of clod fights, fort building, and piled on sleeping accommodations. It is the world for which he has been searching.

All of this sounds like a fun film for the kids and an emotional one for adults, but it isn’t. The film is much too scary for younger children and much too boring for older ones. If there is an audience of any type for this film it is probably older teens and young adults. They will possibly read into the bare bones plot all kinds of symbolism and meaning.

The acting is okay. Max Records plays Max who is the center of the film. He has some natural abilities that entertain somewhat. Catherine Keener has the world weary look necessary for the mother. James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Cooper and others provide voices for the “wild things” and manage to mark them with distinct personalities.

The basic problem of the film is there is no core emotional element to surround the story. The audience never really relates to Max and his problems and certainly not to his attachment to the wild things. Plus the story is muddled. Does Max actually run away to sea or is all this only in his mind? How long is he gone? And most importantly what has he learned?

The special effects in the film are great. The wild things move and act believably. The look of the film is not so good. It is drab and sterile. All the warmth of the sun seems to have been drained from the landscape and from the characters. Aside from a few funny lines, the dialogue is mostly one of complaints which go along with Max’s feelings.

Sometimes people get from movies what they bring with them. There are those who will come to this film remembering a child’s book from their youth and they will treat the film with reverence. Others who do not have this past history with the story will just be bored and disenchanted. It basically is a love it or hate it film.

I can appreciate Jones’ direction and the care he gave to the film to get the images he wanted, but I still can not fall under the spell of the book that he viewed. On DVD you can put the story under the microscope by playing and replaying certain key scenes. That might help, but it also may make it even less enjoyable.

If you want a DVD that will provide a few thrills then pick up “2012.” We all tend to love cataclysmic events in movies. We all held our breaths in “The Poseidon Adventure,” scanned the skies in “Independence Day” and shivered uncontrollably in “The Day After Tomorrow.” Now we can all shake, rattle and roll as the world erupts in “2012.”

“2012” is a film with great special effects but a plot that just can’t be taken seriously – and I am not talking about the end of the world forecast. I am talking about how Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) manages to escape every peril thrown at him. He manages to evade and avoid giant fireballs plunging into the earth around him, great crevices opening up as he drives his car through them, and ash clouds that should suffocate him. The man has more lives than any hundred cats.

Finally after all that he still has to get his family to China where there are supposedly arks waiting to take on a small amount of the population if you have the big bucks for a ticket. These arks also contain the treasures of the world and a few singular animals – no two by twos here (so much for mating).

Traveling with Jackson is his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet). She is good for a few “save the children!” yells. The two kids are there to scream, “Faster, Dad, faster.” Plus there is the ex-wife’s boyfriend Gordon (Tom McCarthy) who just happens to know how to fly a plane.

Interspersed in all this action are cameos by such luminaries as Danny Glover as the President of the USA; Thandie Newton as his daughter; George Segal as a passenger on the “Poseidon” or at least that’s what the boat looks like as it rolls over when the big wave hits; Woody Harrelson as a loony radio announcer; and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the President’s go to science man. Not one of these actors makes much of an impression, and neither do the leads.

This is not the kind of movie you watch for the acting, or for the plot; it is for the big booms and the falling buildings. Thanks to the magic of computers you get the full impact of the world going crazy just like those pesky Mayans said it would.

To get all this “end of the world” action packed into the film it has to have a running time of about three hours. It goes on and on and on from one suspense thrilled event to another. You get one place fixed and then another tragedy is at hand.

Get some food to munch on and put the film in the DVD player. It is nothing to take too seriously and I hope Cusack got a nice paycheck for his embarrassment.

Before “Wall Street 2” comes out in theaters you have the opportunity to watch a DVD that has some of the elements of that plot. "The Trade” concerns a young man who works on Wall Street named Wayne (Edie Mills). His girlfriend is his boss’ daughter and things are looking bright for him.

All that changes when he meets a woman named Sioux (Elizabeth Banks). This is a free spirited soul who changes his life. The best part of the movie is Banks. She makes her character the star of the film.

For a fun look at the twists and turns of the world of Wall Street “The Trade” is a good movie to watch.
 

 

 

 

 

©2010 Jackie K. Cooper

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