Two Buttz Up, Way Up:
Spike Jonze just created my favorite movie of the year. Previously, I’ve felt that Jonze, who was particularly adept at short form music videos, was relying too much on being quirky. His collaborations with Charlie Kaufman just seemed to be weird for the sake of being weird. In adapting Maurice Sendak’s Caldecott winning story for the big screen, Spike Jonze finally had the chance to perfect his style. Where The Wild Things Are is a physical representation of what it feels like to be a child. It also creates a new creative standard for children’s movies. In the process, Jonze stays true to the source material while creating an expanded, authentic world.
I had pretty high hopes for this film. The trailer, set to the Arcade Fire’s Wake Up, made it seem so epic and grandiose. All of the posters have been works of graphic design art. Hell, even the fonts used on all of the printed materials are amazing. However, there was one lingering bit of hesitation to go along with my anticipation: hipster pandering. This movie is a perfect storm of hipster fanboy culture; Spike Jonze directing a movie based on a book that every 25 year old in the world loves. Throw in a script by Dave Eggers and a soundtrack by Karen O featuring Bradford Cox and you have a match made in Hipster Runoff heaven. Unlike other big-budget studio films with marketable characters, you will find no tie-ins to Burger King or 7-11. The only tie-in is with Urban Outfitters (you can find WTWTA tees next to Juno hamburger phones). This, in itself, is pretty groan-worthy. But in spite of my hesitation, WTWTA didn’t disappoint.
The movie starts with Max running wildly around his house then getting into a snowball fight with his sister’s friends. Each cut of the camera feels like it is in time with Max’s breathing. Each destructive act feels authentic and somehow real. This film truly takes you back to being 9 years old. Each manic mood swing is raucously on display.
After an argument with his mother, Max runs away to the woods and boards a sailboat. At this point this imagination takes over. Max comes across a group of monsters that are in need of a king. So considering that all of this is happening within his own mind, Max becomes their king. Let the mothereffing rumpus begin. The only criticism I have is that WTWTA does hit a little bit of a lull in the middle. Considering it takes about five minutes to read the book I can see how it would be difficult to make a complete narrative arc. However, it is really interesting to see how each of the monsters represents an exaggerated version of Max’s emotions.
Just because this movie is about a kid doesn’t mean this is a kid’s movie. In much the same way we don’t consider ET, Wizard of Oz, or The 400 Blows kids movies, Where The Wild Things Are is an adult film. When I left the theater the one thing I couldn’t get out of my mind is that this is the first film that seems to get that children think in a completely different way than adults. Most kid’s movies you see have children doing adult things and having adult conversations. They also contain a lot of fart jokes, American Idol parodies, and Macarena montages. Spike Jonze succeeds in WTWTA by having respect for his audience.
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