Where the Wild Things Are (Review Part 2 of 2)

Where the Wild Things Are (This movie has nothing to do with that lesbian film with Kevin Bacon Neve Campbell, and Denise Richards.)

Spike Jonze added a layer of adult issues into an otherwise children’s book. Because of this, the movie actually is geared toward adults and teenagers than say children under ten. Before gameboys, kids from my generation played in the streets and threw snowballs.

Spike made an interesting choice with the design of the Wild Things. He decided to go with actors in full-body suits with hair. The cool thing about this was that he added CGI faces to the creatures. That meant the monsters had a wide range expressions and the CGI did a great displaying those emotions. You simply can’t get that range of emotion from a damn puppet.

The set design needs to receive some credit as well. The set designs from the scenes really feel like they’re straight from a book. And, there is a ‘castle’ that is just amazing, and words can’t express that.

So, with amazing acting and a great story, there only a few things wrong with the movie

-Sometimes, Max comes across as little brat.

-Some side plot points are never fully realized. Like the twin owls story.

Anyway, the movie isn’t for everyone, not by a long shot. Because I was a lot like Max, a loner kid that didn’t have many friends, I can relate to creating your own fantasy world. Reality becomes too painful to deal with sometimes. And, I think that’s where people see this movie differently from people that didn’t have a childhood like Max.

Grade: A-

I really loved this movie.