I've mentioned before that my mom is a preschool teacher. That means she's one of those super-organized people who happens to have a stash of Handi-Wipes on hand at any given moment. It also means that she is an aficionado on children's books, a trait that, among others, has passed down to yours truly.
Needless to say, our expectations were pretty high for Spike Jonze's new film-- Where the Wild Things Are.
I was not disappointed.
Now, I've seen quite a few awful children's movies. Potty humor, dumb jokes, plot-less storylines... that's pretty much all that's out there for kids.
But Wild Things is different. It's thoughtful, which is so often used as a euphemism for dull, but this movie is exciting, just not in the comic book action way that we've all grown used to.
It sticks to the feel of Maurice Sendak's fantastic book, and it expands upon the very basic plot, making it into something even better (similar to the film adaptations of the Eloise books).
What this movie totally captures is being a little kid. All those things that seem so little now but were so big then-- building snow forts, running, "sleeping in a big pile," making tiny villages in the mud, so much more... it's all there and very real.
Also, hurray hurray, there was not one potty joke! I think that in itself deserves celebration.
One other thing-- I'm so glad they chose to do this as a live action film, not an animated film (especially the horridly over-used 3D-animated film). The cinematography is fantastic. I'm not sure where they filmed this, but the scenery was breath-taking. I think I'd like to live in the land where the wild things are-- as long as I could still come home for supper.
So, I really liked this movie. On both an artistic level and as a children's movie, it's amazing and beautiful (although, just as a forewarning, I wouldn't recommend taking kids any younger than five or six-- some parts would be kind of scary for really young kids). I still can't get the scene where Max sails away and he and the Wild Things "roar their terrible roars" out of my head. And I think I'm alright with that.
YAY for no crud humor! That was one reason my family really enjoyed the movie Up. No crud humor at all!
Thank you muchly for the wonderful review,
Out of the Blue:jane