Where The Wild Things Are (2009)

"I have a sadness shield that keeps out all the sadness, and it's big enough for all of us."

Adapting a book that consists of just under ten lines into a feature length film cannot be an easy task. But this was precisely the problem facing Spike Jonze when he decided to adapt Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s picture book, Where The Wild Things Are, into a film that would eventually span around 95 minutes.

Too young to play with the older children and dissatisfied with his life at home, the ever-playful Max gets into an argument with his mother and proceeds to flee from his home. Eventually Max reaches the waters edge of a lake where a small boat is moored. Eager to escape the problems facing him at home Max escapes into his imagination and soon he is sailing across the vast ocean in a boat now more than double the size it first appeared. After battling heavy rain, Max eventually reaches unfamiliar land and quickly stumbles across a group of furry creatures much bigger than he, already engaged in some form of domestic. These are the Wild Things (voiced by familiar names such as Forest Whitaker, Paul Dano and Chris Cooper) and soon they install Max as their king in order to restore some form of order.

This world that Max has created for himself consists of a forest, inhabited by the Wild Things themselves, and an expansive desert landscape. The Wild Things are interesting to look at and in contrast to most films aimed at children in the 21^st century are not forced to look ‘cutesy’ and ‘fluffy’. Their creation is interesting too, a combination of real-life muppetry and computer-generated imagery that works together perfectly to make the Wild Things look as if they really do occupy the same space as Max himself.

The film is a perfect encapsulation of the wild and vivid imagination that fascinates young children. Watching it I was reminded of my younger self, as Max’s imagination produces ideas not too dissimilar from ones I remember having growing up as a child. Talk of battles and of forts and imaginary objects such as the ‘sadness shield’ invented to allow good to prevail are precisely the things that I myself conjured up when I too was under the control of my imagination.

Under-lying symbolism is also suggested with the Wild Things of Max’s imagination perhaps playing the roles of the people most prominent in his life outside his vivid thoughts. Several times throughout the film I considered the possibility of Carol as representing Max himself, with his horns very much resembling the ears on Max’s wolf costume.

The challenging role of Max is played with craft by Max Records. Not only does he boast an incredibly cool name, but he also proves himself to be a fine young, budding actor. He is required to carry the film on his own and does some whilst maintaining the innocence and enthusiasm we would come to expect of a child immersed in his own creative thoughts.

But despite its short running time parts of the film do seem to drag. Regardless of its many charming moments the film is guilty of plenty of uninspired padding in order to stretch it out to feature length and it seems simply that Jonze does not have enough ideas of his own to justify refusing to settle for a shorter running time. The film will undoubtedly make me smile as you revel in its innocence but taken as a whole it just is not as successful as I had hoped.

Rating: 6.5-7/10