
Posts Tagged ‘where the wild things are’
Where The Wild Things Are: Movie Review
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged arts and entertainment, cast, Catherine Keener, children, children's book, cinema, directing, director, entertainment, film, Mark Ruffalo, Maurice Sendak, movie, movie review, movies, review, spike jonze, where the wild things are, Where The Wild Things Are: Movie Review on October 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »
As an educator and a fellow kid at heart, I wanted to go loving this movie! Unfortunately, this movie falls flat. Based on the less-than-ten-sentences popular children’s book by Maurice Sendak, this is not a children’s film. At times it tries to be, but the subtleties are way over the heads of most children.
More below . . .
It is beautifully shot and amazing job making everything look and feel realistic –but what is lacking is in the writing. The sound is simple OK.
From the start, we are supposed to feel empathy for Max, because of his neglect. We are hit over the head with it, and expected to immediately feel bad for the kid. I would have preferred more dimensional situations, which will make us feel for our main character, instead of having these scenes that scream, “you must feel sorry for him”.
The whole movie feels a bit contrived for me and again I am not buying the writing. THIS IS NOT REALLY A CHILDREN’S MOVIE, but I think there should have been more of a morality. Here there are great teaching lessons about anger, your emotions and how to deal your negative feelings. They could have really presented this to children and I think they would have taken away a lot. There are themes about acting out, family, and love. Also, coming away thinking families come in different shapes and sizes and appearance would have been two key themes that would make for great writing.
There were only a few moments where I actually felt touched, rather than feeling like I SHOULD be.
This movie is more violent than I thought –especially based on a children’s book. Catherine Keener (who I love) is underused and the big WTF is how Mark Ruffalo got a huge screen credit for the whole 20 seconds he was in the film. All the actors go a great job with making the voices colorful and rich.
With the right directing (and Spike Jonze –I’m surprised!) this could have been a movie for kids without watering their emotions.
Bottom line: DVD or Blue-Ray it! Or if you see it, go see this movie without a lot of expectations. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t the masterpiece I expected.