Where the Wild Things Are
- Directed by: Spike Jonze
- Starring: Catherine Keener, Max Records, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, Paul Dano
- Genre: Childrens
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Rating:
- Rating Reason: for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language
- Theater Release: 10/16/2009
Synopsis
Maurice Sendak's kiddie lit classic gets a live-action adaptation thanks to two of pop culture's most creative minds. Director Spike Jonze (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) collaborates with bestselling author Dave Eggers (A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS) on the script for this story about a young boy named Max who spends time in the company of monsters.
Maurice Sendak's kiddie lit classic gets a live-action adaptation thanks to two of pop culture's most creative minds. Director Spike Jonze (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) collaborates with bestselling author Dave Eggers (A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS) on the script for this story about a young boy named Max who spends time in the company of monsters.
Reviews
"The spare, starlit desert/forest/ocean imagery of Sendak's drawings is lovingly, even painstakingly preserved, and just as lovingly and painstakingly sifted into the action so that it never draws attention to itself as an effect per se." (Film Comment)
"Spike Jonze is just the visionary talent to nurture Sendak's tale of a boy who creates a fantasy world full of wild things that embody his own fears bout the real one." (Rolling Stone)
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is a fiercely innovative film with surprising texture and nuance. It captures the joy and exuberance of childhood without shying away from its very real pains and woes." (USA Today)
"[A] film that manages to create its own reality and meaning, even while it bring's Sendak's visual world to life with startling accuracy." (Washington Post)
4 stars out of 5 -- "Jonze not only remembers the emotions of youth, he makes us feel them....WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is so patient and non-judgmental that you're welcome to simply bliss out on the visuals." (Box Office)
"Spike Jonze not only respects the original text but also honors movie lovers with the same clarity of vision. This is one of the year's best." (Entertainment Weekly)
"Like the hero of the book, this Max projects a fantasy world from his yearnings, fear and anger. But the movie invests those projections with such intense and genuine wildness as to make their creator a veritable Wizard of Id." (Wall Street Journal)
3 stars out of 4 -- "The voice actors and the f/x artists give their fantastical characters personality.... (Chicago Sun-Times)
"[A] beautiful adaptation of the Maurice Sendak children's book....[An] intensely original and haunting movie..." (New York Times)
"Whether the action is grand and exciting...or simple and human....it all feels genuine to the actual experience of childhood in ways that children's movies generally don't." -- Grade: A- (A.V. Club)
"Fleet of foot, emotionally attuned to its subject and instinctively faithful to its celebrated source, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE earns a lot of points for its hand-crafted look..." (Variety)
4 stars out of 4 -- "[A] visual and emotional tour de force....The brilliant songs, by Karen O and the Kids, enhance the film's power to pull you in..." (Rolling Stone)
"The spare, starlit desert/forest/ocean imagery of Sendak's drawings is lovingly, even painstakingly preserved, and just as lovingly and painstakingly sifted into the action so that it never draws attention to itself as an effect per se." (Film Comment)
"Spike Jonze is just the visionary talent to nurture Sendak's tale of a boy who creates a fantasy world full of wild things that embody his own fears bout the real one." (Rolling Stone)
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is a fiercely innovative film with surprising texture and nuance. It captures the joy and exuberance of childhood without shying away from its very real pains and woes." (USA Today)
"[A] film that manages to create its own reality and meaning, even while it bring's Sendak's visual world to life with startling accuracy." (Washington Post)
4 stars out of 5 -- "Jonze not only remembers the emotions of youth, he makes us feel them....WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is so patient and non-judgmental that you're welcome to simply bliss out on the visuals." (Box Office)
"Spike Jonze not only respects the original text but also honors movie lovers with the same clarity of vision. This is one of the year's best." (Entertainment Weekly)
"Like the hero of the book, this Max projects a fantasy world from his yearnings, fear and anger. But the movie invests those projections with such intense and genuine wildness as to make their creator a veritable Wizard of Id." (Wall Street Journal)
3 stars out of 4 -- "The voice actors and the f/x artists give their fantastical characters personality.... (Chicago Sun-Times)
"[A] beautiful adaptation of the Maurice Sendak children's book....[An] intensely original and haunting movie..." (New York Times)
"Whether the action is grand and exciting...or simple and human....it all feels genuine to the actual experience of childhood in ways that children's movies generally don't." -- Grade: A- (A.V. Club)
"Fleet of foot, emotionally attuned to its subject and instinctively faithful to its celebrated source, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE earns a lot of points for its hand-crafted look..." (Variety)
4 stars out of 4 -- "[A] visual and emotional tour de force....The brilliant songs, by Karen O and the Kids, enhance the film's power to pull you in..." (Rolling Stone)
