RSS
Home
Where the metaphors are
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
“Where the Wild Things Are,” yet another adaption of a classic children's book Hollywood has hit us with this fall, perhaps might have been better served staying on the printed page.
Now, trying to do a full length film out of what was essentially a picture book for younger kids is a daunting task, and director Spike Jonze gives it the old college try with what he had to work with in this cinematic adaption.
Unfortunately what he had to work with is the less than adequate, only marginally talented Max Records (no, not the son of Vinyl and Criminal), and the biggest collection of over-sized muppets I've seen since Sesame Street had Big Bird and Snuffleupagus on every episode!
The story centers on Max (Records, yes, out of 1000 kids tested Jonze picked an actor with the same name as the character, go figure), a boy in desperate need of Ritalin, who wrestles with his dog, bothers his sister, and bites his mother. Max runs away from home and takes a sailboat to an island populated by refugees from a Jim Henson extravaganza.
At first they want to eat Max (which would have saved us, the viewers, a lot of trouble), but then they decide to befriend him and make him their King. “Let the wild rumpus start!” The problem here is not much wild or fun ever happens.
What follows is a rather episodic mess, each vignette being less spirited and more laborious to get through than the last. With metaphoric references falling like rain, touching on everything from anger management, to self worth, to unrequited love, to add infinitum.
Not to be confused with a good kiddie film, “Where the Wild Things Are” seems to do it's level best to confound the little kids, bore the older kids, and disappoint the teens and adults that may have slipped in to see if the film measured up to the fond nostalgia they felt for the book (it doesn't).
“Where the Wild Things Are” isn't horrible, but far from watchable, and the only question is who might dislike it more, the ones who loved the book and couldn't wait to see this film, or the ones that come in cold and leave freezing.
Related Articles:
Comments
