By Malice Intended

The simplest stories are often the hardest to adapt.  Children’s books in particular tend to be extremely short and often don’t contain enough material for a feature length film.  Filmmakers are then forced to elaborate on the original story.  Such situations can result in a film that stands on its own while complimenting the original authors work nicely.  They can also yield aimless productions that resemble the original product in name only.

Where the Wild Things Are is an adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s 1963 children’s picture book.  The film tells the story of Max (Max Records), a little boy living with his older sister and single mother (Catherine Keener).  One night, Max throws a temper tantrum and runs away to a nearby shore.  Once there, Max imagines sailing away to a fantasy world of his own creation: an island where giant creatures known as “wild things” dwell.

The wild things are a diverse and fearsome lot.  Their makeshift family consists of six beasts with varying temperaments.  There is  Ira (Forest Whitaker), Carol (James Gandolfini), KW  (Lauren Ambrose), Judith (Catherine O’Hara), The Bull (Michael Berry Jr.) and Alexande (Paul Dano). Max confronts them and declares himself their king, vowing to make the island a utopia.  Things go smoothly until the wild things realize that Max is not a king with magical powers, but just a little boy.

Maurice Sendek’s original book was a short but memorable read.  The text consisted of only ten sentences and was accompanied by Sendek’s weirdly imaginative artwork.  Writer/Director Spike Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers attempt to stretch this material over a running time of 101 minutes. The result is a labored but ultimately indulgent oddity; a film that never seems sure of where it’s going or what it’s trying to say. 

The book was abstract enough to invite personal interpretation, yet was straight forward enough to entertain small children.  Spike Jonze film squanders that sense of wonder by creating a film that feels virtually plotless and formless.  It’s as if Jonze and Eggers were so enamored by the visuals that they didn’t bother to develop a coherent screenplay.  The narrative meanders from situation to situation.  Only towards the final act does a point of any sort begin to emerge. 

There are touching even fun moments strewn about, but not nearly enough to maintain viewer interest.  A good kids film should move at a steady clip, and the best ones understand economy of story telling.  Spike Jonze approaches the material like a personal labor of love.  He seems completely uninterested in the basic appeal this story holds for the masses, and instead turns it into a ponderous personal statement.

The film’s saving grace is its technical merit.  The wild things themselves are truly wondrous creations.  They were created using a combination of animatronics, suitmation and computer generated imagery.  The overall effect is seamless and draws you into their world in a way that the story fails to.  The set design is impressive and clearly evokes the dreamlike atmosphere that the filmmakers are going for.  The forests in Max’s imaginary world seem as endless and vast as space itself. 

The actors do an admirable job of holding our interest during some of the more boring stretches.  Max Records is as believable a protagonist as one could ask for.  The voice actors all infuse the wild things with a sense of individuality and frailty to the point where you can sense their presence on screen even though you never actually see them.  Of special note is James Gandolfini, who is uncharacteristically sympathetic and childlike as Carol. 

Where the Wild Things Are is a troublesome enigma of a film.  Too slow moving and ponderous for kids, too vapid and meandering for adults.  Even with a relatively short running time, the length feels epic.  The film stands as a well made bore.  Spike Jonze should have bothered to temper his own personal vision for the film with a true understanding of what made the story appealing in the first place.  Perhaps Where the Wild Things Are will achieve cult status over the years, but for right now it is a curious misfire.

Out of 5

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