What a hard film to pin down. A fantastical, art-house masterpiece that's main focus is making you feel by reminding you of very real feelings that you may well have buried or suppressed upon growing up. It's not about a grand adventure or any easily digested moral. If you can't put your self in Max's place, warts and all, then you probably won't be able to enjoy this film on the level it's meant to be enjoyed. But if you can, wow, you'll be captivated and blown away.
I imagine this being studied in child psychology classes well before film studies classes. Every beat isn't magnified to glorious effect. It's the overall product with some fairly mundane-seeming pieces that come together to make a greater whole that matters here. I'll come right out and say, this is the first film that I finally let the tears flow in since WALL-E. And surprisingly I wasn't able to hold back until the credits like I was then.
There are so many little moments, almost right from the beginning, that get you in this one. From "Worried Shoes" playing during a scene that pretty much puts us right back there, lying at Mom and Dad's feet as they worry about bills or work or things we don't understand to Max racing home looking for his Mom until she finally pops around a corner and there she is, and it all feels better again.
Perhaps even more powerful is the near-universal feeling and perhaps even theme of the film of wanting everything to be okay, and being powerless to make it so. I'll tell you a secret, I may be 26 but I'm just a little kid. I constantly want to rip at my hair and scream at the world when the little, stupid, everyday things go wrong and there's nothing I can do to stop those little, insignificant moments from existing. This film is cathartic for those feelings. If you're willing to let yourself get swept up in it, then those emotions can, at least for a moment, feel purged by the end of the journey.
Alas, as much as this film should be left in the realm of emotion, it wouldn't be right of me to not mention the pieces that make the whole. First up is the acting, standing out most of all being young Max Records as Max. No other child actor could have pulled this off like he did, in my opinion. He's a little hellion that you strive to avoid and hope his parents have money for counseling in one instance, but still a likable, easy to relate to little guy that is basically a stand in for your inner child and all those feelings that you thought you forgot in another. Catherine Keener does an admirable job as the mother, although it's likely the least she's had to do to be brilliant in a film ever. Then again, to play the part so perfectly of *everyone's mother* might not have been as easy as I think.
The voice actors were also a perfect choice. I can't think of anyone else who could've played any of these characters. While James Gandolfini does an excellent job as Carol, to me it was Lauren Ambrose as KW that really stole the show, although one could argue that's because she was the character everyone most wanted to love and be loved by. On the subject of the creatures, all I will say is they were brought to glorious glorious life by The Jim Henson Company via puppetry, guys in suits, and minimal CGI used in service of emotion rather than for trying to make something "look cool".
And a quick word about the soundtrack. Maybe it's because I've listened to it on repeat for a week, but I'm not at all surprised to say that it's fantastic and fits the film perfectly. I was expecting "All is Love", "Building All is Love", or "Hideaway" to be the standout moments (and in some cases they partially were), but I'm still surprised to say "Worried Shoes" (a cover, but used so effectively) as Max lays at his mother's feet is my favorite moment musically.
So, yes, this can be summed up as, "Boy runs away from home, comes back." in seven words, as the "wise" owls ask of Max when wanting to know what advice he wants. But that is as simplistic as the question he asks, "How do I make every one okay?" But like that question, it's not as simple as it first looks. The creatures are representative of emotions, from rage, to fear, heck even to feelings of inferiority. It's not a straight fantasy adventure and isn't easily digestible. Even as much as I love it I'm positive that I won't fully understand my feelings on the film until a second viewing.
As a final note, I'm sure others will come to feel as I did that the best moments in the film were the build up at the beginning and the running home at the end, for pure raw emotional depth. That does not at all mean that the middle parts or the parts with the wild things were bad or lacked depth. They were much more surreal and require much more examination, however, and so it is far easier to relate to those simple real-world moments.
All-in-all, a fantastic film. A reviewer on Metacritic has already stole my witticism that I'd most love to use about the film, so I will simply be quoting her: "I'd eat it up, I love it so."
PS: This really doesn't feel like an adaptation. Jonze has taken Maurice Sendak's charge to make it his own to heart. But it still feels very much like the book came to life.
I imagine this being studied in child psychology classes well before film studies classes. Every beat isn't magnified to glorious effect. It's the overall product with some fairly mundane-seeming pieces that come together to make a greater whole that matters here. I'll come right out and say, this is the first film that I finally let the tears flow in since WALL-E. And surprisingly I wasn't able to hold back until the credits like I was then.
There are so many little moments, almost right from the beginning, that get you in this one. From "Worried Shoes" playing during a scene that pretty much puts us right back there, lying at Mom and Dad's feet as they worry about bills or work or things we don't understand to Max racing home looking for his Mom until she finally pops around a corner and there she is, and it all feels better again.
Perhaps even more powerful is the near-universal feeling and perhaps even theme of the film of wanting everything to be okay, and being powerless to make it so. I'll tell you a secret, I may be 26 but I'm just a little kid. I constantly want to rip at my hair and scream at the world when the little, stupid, everyday things go wrong and there's nothing I can do to stop those little, insignificant moments from existing. This film is cathartic for those feelings. If you're willing to let yourself get swept up in it, then those emotions can, at least for a moment, feel purged by the end of the journey.
Alas, as much as this film should be left in the realm of emotion, it wouldn't be right of me to not mention the pieces that make the whole. First up is the acting, standing out most of all being young Max Records as Max. No other child actor could have pulled this off like he did, in my opinion. He's a little hellion that you strive to avoid and hope his parents have money for counseling in one instance, but still a likable, easy to relate to little guy that is basically a stand in for your inner child and all those feelings that you thought you forgot in another. Catherine Keener does an admirable job as the mother, although it's likely the least she's had to do to be brilliant in a film ever. Then again, to play the part so perfectly of *everyone's mother* might not have been as easy as I think.
The voice actors were also a perfect choice. I can't think of anyone else who could've played any of these characters. While James Gandolfini does an excellent job as Carol, to me it was Lauren Ambrose as KW that really stole the show, although one could argue that's because she was the character everyone most wanted to love and be loved by. On the subject of the creatures, all I will say is they were brought to glorious glorious life by The Jim Henson Company via puppetry, guys in suits, and minimal CGI used in service of emotion rather than for trying to make something "look cool".
And a quick word about the soundtrack. Maybe it's because I've listened to it on repeat for a week, but I'm not at all surprised to say that it's fantastic and fits the film perfectly. I was expecting "All is Love", "Building All is Love", or "Hideaway" to be the standout moments (and in some cases they partially were), but I'm still surprised to say "Worried Shoes" (a cover, but used so effectively) as Max lays at his mother's feet is my favorite moment musically.
So, yes, this can be summed up as, "Boy runs away from home, comes back." in seven words, as the "wise" owls ask of Max when wanting to know what advice he wants. But that is as simplistic as the question he asks, "How do I make every one okay?" But like that question, it's not as simple as it first looks. The creatures are representative of emotions, from rage, to fear, heck even to feelings of inferiority. It's not a straight fantasy adventure and isn't easily digestible. Even as much as I love it I'm positive that I won't fully understand my feelings on the film until a second viewing.
As a final note, I'm sure others will come to feel as I did that the best moments in the film were the build up at the beginning and the running home at the end, for pure raw emotional depth. That does not at all mean that the middle parts or the parts with the wild things were bad or lacked depth. They were much more surreal and require much more examination, however, and so it is far easier to relate to those simple real-world moments.
All-in-all, a fantastic film. A reviewer on Metacritic has already stole my witticism that I'd most love to use about the film, so I will simply be quoting her: "I'd eat it up, I love it so."
PS: This really doesn't feel like an adaptation. Jonze has taken Maurice Sendak's charge to make it his own to heart. But it still feels very much like the book came to life.