I'm a massive fan of Spike Jonze's films. He's made some of the best films I've seen such as Her, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Where the Wild Things Are is easily his weakest film but it's still a good one.
Where the Wild Things Are follows Max, a young boy, who runs away from home and sails to an island inhabited by creatures that hail him as their king.
Based off Maurice Sendak's book of the same name, Where the Wild Things Are is one of the strangest kids films I've seen. The book is very short and to turn it into a feature length film is no easy feat. I had known this film to be a film for kids but I found Where the Wild Things Are to be surprisingly mature. It has a very depressing tone throughout and deals with mature themes like leadership and selfishness. I really liked this take on Sendak's book as I think it builds upon the themes more and therefore we got a better understanding of Max's character. The cinematography doesn't capture the bright and colourful nature of the book but it's very fitting for the tone Jonze went for. The dreary scenery and scale of it is amazing to look at and gives a grand look to the overall film. What I was very impressed by was how good the "Wild Things" looked. Through the use of animatronics, practical effects and CGI, they were able to make the creatures look very real and convincing.
The voice work done for the creatures was very good as well. James Gandolfini was great as the hot tempered Carol, Lauren Ambrose did a good job as the calm yet lonely KW, Forest Whitaker as the gentle Ira was great, Paul Dano did great as the mistreated Alexander, Chris Cooper was solid as Douglas, Catherine O'Hara was great as the aggressive Judith and Michael Berry Jr was good as the quiet Bull. However, the one who really carried the film was Max Records as Max. This film rests on his shoulders as he's a part of nearly every scene and he delivers one of the best child performances I've seen. Catherine Keener also did well as his mother in her small role.
Where the Wild Things Are is a pretty underrated film. When it comes to Spike Jonze's films, I don't hear about this one much. Whilst it may not have translated into a very entertaining film, Where the Wild Things Are deals with some complex themes in an interesting way. The themes along with the fantastic performance by Records, the cinematography and the admirable creation of the creatures themselves make Where the Wild Things Are worth a watch.
Where the Wild Things Are follows Max, a young boy, who runs away from home and sails to an island inhabited by creatures that hail him as their king.
Based off Maurice Sendak's book of the same name, Where the Wild Things Are is one of the strangest kids films I've seen. The book is very short and to turn it into a feature length film is no easy feat. I had known this film to be a film for kids but I found Where the Wild Things Are to be surprisingly mature. It has a very depressing tone throughout and deals with mature themes like leadership and selfishness. I really liked this take on Sendak's book as I think it builds upon the themes more and therefore we got a better understanding of Max's character. The cinematography doesn't capture the bright and colourful nature of the book but it's very fitting for the tone Jonze went for. The dreary scenery and scale of it is amazing to look at and gives a grand look to the overall film. What I was very impressed by was how good the "Wild Things" looked. Through the use of animatronics, practical effects and CGI, they were able to make the creatures look very real and convincing.
The voice work done for the creatures was very good as well. James Gandolfini was great as the hot tempered Carol, Lauren Ambrose did a good job as the calm yet lonely KW, Forest Whitaker as the gentle Ira was great, Paul Dano did great as the mistreated Alexander, Chris Cooper was solid as Douglas, Catherine O'Hara was great as the aggressive Judith and Michael Berry Jr was good as the quiet Bull. However, the one who really carried the film was Max Records as Max. This film rests on his shoulders as he's a part of nearly every scene and he delivers one of the best child performances I've seen. Catherine Keener also did well as his mother in her small role.
Where the Wild Things Are is a pretty underrated film. When it comes to Spike Jonze's films, I don't hear about this one much. Whilst it may not have translated into a very entertaining film, Where the Wild Things Are deals with some complex themes in an interesting way. The themes along with the fantastic performance by Records, the cinematography and the admirable creation of the creatures themselves make Where the Wild Things Are worth a watch.