Wild But Good

Last night we took the kids to the movies. Normally, this is something I suffer through rather than enjoy. Kind of like children's birthday parties. Or getting my teeth fixed. But this particular movie happened to be an adaptation of one of my favourite kid's books 'Where The Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak, a beloved classic in many households including my own. So for once I was looking forward to the film as much as my own little 'wild things.'

I confess I had some doubts about the director Spike Jonze's adaptation. Many books are altered beyond recognition for the screen. Things need to be 'racier' these days to hold short attention spans. Colours must be extra bright and the dialogue snappy enough to keep jaded mum and dad amused while the kids chuckle at the overtly slapstick comedy. The effect is like eating your way through an entire chocolate mudcake, good in the beginning but sickly by a quarter way through. I needn't have worried.

For starters, unlike most made-for-children movies these days 'Where the Wild Things Are' isn't animated. There's not even a lot of CGI. The 'wild things' are good old-fashioned puppets - remember those? - and this adds to the whimsical charm the movie shares with Sendak's book. As does the wonderful soundtrack by Karen O., all drums and yowls, exactly as you would expect for this free-wheeling adventure.

Max Records, the actor who plays 'Max,' is a real life boy who portrays the character's conflicting emotions in a completely believable way. He's a lead character you really feel with, and for. The voices of the Wild Things are also well done, Jonze opting for regular adult voices over the expected cartoony tones, further humanizing the otherwise surreal story.

From it's opening with the lonely Max desperately seeking companionship, to the tearful reunion of Max and his mother at the end, this isn't a simple happy fairy-tale. Having said that, neither is so overly complex that even my four and six year olds didn't enjoy it. It can be appreciated on many levels depending on the age of the viewer. And it manages to do that without resorting to either smart-arsed adult humour or juvenile flashiness.

In the end, Where the Wild Things Are stays true to the spirit of the book albeit with enough added story elements to fill a 110 minute long movie. No doubt many will find the pace too slow and the action to scarce for their liking, but for them there's always another Disney movie on the way.