Where the Wild Things Are

Directed by Spike Jonze
Starring: Max Records and Catherine Keener
Nightly at the Loma (7:00) for the week of November 20th

Director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) has his work cut out for him in this film: he needs to take a book that many people (from child to adult) hold dear to their hearts, and make it into a film children and adults will equally hold dear to their hearts, maintaining the magic of his source. For me, he got close, but really missed the mark that the book hit so well. Like the book, this movie follows the rambunctious Max, a young boy who gets himself in trouble, and finds his only escape is to imagine sailing to a far off land where he meets a leaderless band of monsters in need of a king.

Records (The Brothers Bloom) does a good enough job as Max, and Keener (The 40 Year Old Virgin ) puts in a competent (though brief) turn as Max's single mother, but the real stars of this movie is the band of monsters. Jonze did an excellent job of translating the two dimensional monsters from the book into living, breathing creatures (even if they are imaginary), and therein lies one of the strengths of the movie. I was also amazed at Jonze's use of his soundtrack. Few director's have the command of music he has in his films (I would argue he is on the same level as Tim Burton, Stanley Kubrick, or George Lucas). Considering Jonze's early directing career making music videos, this shouldn't be surprising, but deserves a nod nonetheless. The last strength of the film was the ability to make the complex relationships between the monsters understandable. The rivalries and friendships make Max's work of keeping them all happy and together a challenge.

You would think these ingredients would make for an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately for me, it didn't. I couldn't wait for the movie to be over. I really felt like the story was too convoluted. It also suffered severely from trying to add too much filler to make it from a bedtime story to a 101 minute major motion picture. I really wanted to like the film, it's well directed, well acted, amazing soundtrack, but it didn't do it for me. The movie was able to maintain the creativity of the book, but the simple story I loved so much was gone. The real world relationships between the monsters, and Max's sudden interest in leading the monsters as a real king just ruined it for me.

Even when taking the strengths of "Where the Wild Things Are" into account, there just wasn't the enjoyment in the film I was expecting. For that, I can't recommend this movie (though I've loved Jonze's past directing efforts). It's hard to say this since I wanted to like it so much, that makes this film that much more of a disappointment for me.