Movie Review - Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, and the voices of James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, and Forrest Whitaker
Directed by Spike Jonze

I can't even begin to tell you how much I want to like this movie. It has so many positive things going for it...unfortunately, a story is not one of them. And the lack of any type of strong narrative really manages to bring this movie down. I tried my hardest not to be bored, but the screenwriters need to give me a little something to keep me engaged.

Young Max isn't happy. His older sister is abandoning him for friends of a similar age. His mom is either working or spending time dating. One night, he flips out, bites his mother, and then runs away "into his imagination" to a land inhabited by larger than life monsters and animals. Max befriends these monsters, becomes their king, and realizes that their problems are similar to humankind.

I guess the problem with adapting a small children's picture book to the big screen is that you're inevitably going to have to add stuff in order to pad the running time into a feature film. There were little vignettes here and there in the film that worked, but it didn't really feel like a cohesive story.

And it's incredibly unfortunate because everything else on display here is top notch. I was quite impressed with young Max Records as Max. I don't think his role as a rambunctious youth was an easy one to play (mainly because the story doesn't really give him a whole lot of motivation or reasoning behind the things he does), but he's onscreen for nearly every scene and I was quite impressed with his work. Catherine Keener's role as his mom is very minimal, but she surprisingly made an impression on me (in a good way) despite her limited screen time.

Let's discuss the monsters now...there's some great puppetry/costumes going on here. Stunning stuff. Each monster manages to have their own distinct personality thanks to some great voice work and some amazing movements. I can't get over how "real" the facial reactions and arm movements and stances of the puppeteers felt to me...like watching a person onscreen instead of a furry creature. Like I said, the voices matched the monsters perfectly. James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Cooper, Lauren Ambrose, and Forrest Whitaker all deserve kudos for creating believable monsters via their voicework.

And despite the fact that his screenplay was weak, as a director, Spike Jonze is something special. The film looked exquisite. Even in the opening scenes at Max's house, I was surprised by how much I liked the visuals. I like that Jonze doesn't rush things and he lets scenes sit there for a while (I know...kind of opposite to the fact that I said the movie was boring, but that's the fault of the script). I can see how some would watch the final scene of this movie - a perfect example of what I mention above -- and go, "What the heck was that?," but I looked at it and was pleased with it.

With so many things to love about this movie (I didn't even mention the odd soundtrack which absolutely added to the film, even if I wasn't head-over-heels in love with it), it pains me to give this the rating I'm going to give it. If only there was something story-wise here, this could've been one of my favorite movies of the year without a doubt.

The RyMickey Rating: C