Actor(s): Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper
Director(s): Spike Jonze
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Binding: Blu-ray
Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
Language(s): English, Spanish, French
EAN: 0883929068166
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Description
Through his handcrafted ode to the trials of childhood, Spike Jonze puts his own unique imprint on Maurice Sendak's enduring classic. In the prologue, 9-year-old Max (Max Records) stomps around the house, feeling neglected. When his mom (Catherine Keener) sends him to bed without supper, Max runs away (something he doesn't do in the book). He finds a boat and sails to a distant land where fuzzy monsters are raising a rumpus in the forest. Since his wolf suit allows him to fit right in, he joins the fray, catching the eye of Carol (James Gandolfini, excellent), who notes, approvingly, "I like the way you destroy stuff. There's a spark to your work that can't be taught." With that, they pronounce the diminutive creature king, hoping he can bring cohesion to their fractured family. After Max comes across Carol's scale-model town, he decides they should build a real one, but the project stalls as Alexander (Paul Dano) and Douglas (Chris Cooper) mope, Judith (Catherine O'Hara) browbeats Ira (Forest Whitaker), and Carol pines for K.W. (Lauren Ambrose), who prefers the company of owls Bob and Terry. Max realizes he has to make a choice: stay with the wild things or return home, where he has to keep his aggressive impulses in check. For readers of Sendak's slim tome, his decision won't come as a surprise, but Jonze ends the story on a lovely grace note. Until that time, the squabbling is a bit much--these monsters never stop talking--but Jonze, cowriter Dave Eggers, the Jim Henson Company, and singer/songwriter Karen O. have gone all-out to re-create the inner world of a child with as much empathy as was mustered for the inner adult world of Jonze's Being John Malkovich. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
"Let the wild rumpus start!" Nine-year-old Max runs away from home and sails across the sea to become king of the land Where the Wild Things Are. King Max rules a wondrous realm of gigantic fuzzy monsters--but being king may not be as carefree as it looks! Filmmaker Spike Jonze directs a magical, visually astonishing film version of Maurice Sendak's celebrated children's classic, starring an amazing cast of screen veterans and featuring young Max Records in a fierce and sensitive performance as Max. Explore the joyous, complicated and wildly imaginative wild rumpus of the time and place we call childhood.
2010 was a great year for melancholy films (A SINGLE MAN being another great film). Where the Wild Things Are captured all of the uncertainty, mood swings, and wild imagination of being young.
"Where is it??"
Written By: Luisa
The movie I purchased was destined to my uncle's house, and the item never arrived.. I tried to contact someone at Amazon but it was impossible. It said it did arrive but my uncle never got it, so I'm kind of still waiting for it..
"Serious emotional issues with no resolution...just dissolution"
Written By: J. A. Dillon
There are many well written reviews that I agree with on Amazon.com regarding: 1) the unexplicable intense rage and anger from the very outset, 2)completely unacceptable behavior of the boy towards his kind and caring mother, 3)lack of character development for the monsters (which obviously were a reflexion of the boys emotional issues), 4)lack of resolution between the monsters or the boy and his mother. It has it's artistic moments, and I can tolerate a lack of true plot when my senses are emotions are deeply involved, however at 40 minutes, I wanted the movie to just end. I would not show it to children and I would not recommend it to friends. For those who can relate because of their own deep emotional problems, a movie like this only adds fuel to your rage and does not help you come to closure.
I want my 2 hours back and I'm not going to write any more on this subject so that it doesn't waste anymore of my time.
I love this book, but I was curious as to how they were going to fill 90 minutes on screen. I found out how ... they made up a lot of really boring child angst garbage and turned this classic funny kids book into some warped exploration of how divorce effects kids. Who cares? Certainly not my 9 year old who kept wondering when the monsters were going to be entertaining and funny. I sat in that movie theater just squirming in my seat wanting the dumb thing to hurry up and be over! It was excruciating. The special effects were horrendous, I could have done better with my cell phone. And as far as the plot itself, there is no resolution, it just peters out there at the end and you get no answers to any of your questions, but on the positive side, you just don't care anyway.
![Where the Wild Things Are [Blu-ray]](/gfx/item/B001HN699K.jpg "Where the Wild Things Are [Blu-ray]")
"One of the melancholy best of 2010"
"Where is it??"
"Where The Bad Movies Are (One & a half stars)"
