Plot: What’s it about?
I’ll be the first to admit that I’d heard of “Where the Wild Things Are” but never remember reading it or having it read to me. No, for some odd reason the only association I had with the book was seeing it on a fraternity T-shirt advertising a party and seeing the somewhat scary and/or disturbing images of, well, whatever those things are supposed to be. As I’m sitting in the theater about ready to watch “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” a trailer for the movie was shown and I was intrigued. I mean Spike Jonze doesn’t exactly direct a lot of films, so when he gets behind a project you’d have to assume that it would be interesting and, dare I say…good? Jonze directed one of my all-time favorite films with “Being John Malkovich” back in 1999, so the thought of him turning one of the most acclaimed children’s books into a feature film was not only intriguing, but was it possible?
Naturally the challenge of taking an illustrated children’s book with minimal dialogue and turning it into a 100 minute film has its challenges, namely where do you fill in all the blanks? But hey, if they can turn 5 minute SNL skits into successful films then why can’t they do the same thing here? They do. We meet Max (Max Records), a lonely and somewhat isolated child. His sister is more into her friends and his mother (Catherine Keener) is a single mom who’s also trying to date. As a result, Max has a lot of alone time and envisions himself the king of his own domain. After a fight with his mother, Max races off to a fantasy land that’s very real to him (and us). After a rather awkward introduction, he claims that he’s a King and that he’s their new ruler. We then meet several of the key, uh, “things” in Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini), an artist of sorts and some others like Alexander (voiced by Paul Dano), Judith (voiced by Catherine O’Hara) and Ira (voiced by Forest Whitaker). Will Max be able to maintain his role as “King” or will some of the hot-tempered “things” find him out?
Evidently “Where the Wild Things Are” has been planned as a feature film for quite some time, but author Maurice Sendack never felt comfortable with anyone calling the shots. He approached Spike Jonze to take on the role and the rest, as they say, is history. Also of note, these “things” aren’t CGI but rather are more like giant muppets. In fact, the costumes were made by The Jim Henson Company who’s also responsible for films like “Labyrinth” and “The Muppets” of course. My only complaint with the film is that it’s a bit dark and I don’t think younger children would enjoy it or even “get it”. In fact they might be scared by some of the larger than life characters in the film. So while it’s hard to really say how this film would have ended up in someone else’s hands, it is very moving in parts and shows the loneliness that we all have. While I’d recommend it for some older children, fans of the book will undoubtedly check it out.
Video: How does it look?
“Where the Wild Things Are” is shown in a 2.40:1 VC-1 HD transfer that leaves little to the imagination. The film is very dark in tone and it’s shot the same way as well. The opening sequences are interior and a bit hard to decipher and the remainder of the movie is propagated by earthy tones; namely browns. There’s really no reference point as to how these giant “muppets” look, but the detail is clearly there. Contrast is right on target and while there are minimal flesh tones, they look to be accurate as well. Let’s face it, it’s a big-budget movie from Warner so yes, it looks good on Blu-ray.
Audio: How does it sound?
The DTS HD Master Audio track is very active and very robust. While the majority of the film is dialogue-driven, I found there to be several scenes that really took charge and left me with a lasting impression. When Max is first introduced to the “things”, they’re destroying the forest and the bumps and thuds sound pretty impressive. The LFE do take control at some key times as well. Dialogue is at the heart of this movie, as mentioned, and it sounds very sharp and natural. Lest we forget the soundtrack that features “Karen O and the Kids” which gives the movie a very jovial, yet unique sense of style and sound.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The supplements on this Blu-ray aren’t too plentiful and I feel they’re somewhat lacking. We do get an HBO First Look at “Where the Wild Things Are” as well as a series of short featurettes, my favorite of which is one in which they try to get a “movie dog” to run and bark at the same time. Evidently that’s more of a challenge than you might think. Also included is a regular DVD of the film as well as a digital copy.
