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After hearing the book is a famous children's book, I had intensions to see the film adaptation. After only seeing some clips and still pictures, this film reminded me a lot of Bridge To Terabithia. It does have its similarities with Where The Wild Things Are but there are a lot of differences between the two. It is the feelings that you have for them that make them similar. It has nothing to do with plot, acting or anything like that. I mean, Where The Wild Things Are is one of those "more for adults than kids" sort of films. It had its magic, obviously, but there were some dark things about this film too. Suppose the creatures weren't exactly an awesome sight for kids. I would call this a family film but I wouldn't say it is for all ages.
Max Records delivers a great performance as Max. Max is a young boy who is usually lonely and has a very active imagination. He usually wears a wolf costume. One day he creates a snow igloo. When that gets destroyed by his older sister's friends and she does nothing, Max gets deeply upset and hurt by this so he purposely destroys her bedroom specifically a frame that Max made for her. Because his mum wouldn't see the broken igloo that his sister did, he was angry with his mum so he just ran away and goes on a boat out into the sea. Max's performance was definitely one of the best child performances I have ever watched.
I was nervous for this film too because Spike Jonze is directing it and he hasn't done anything like this before. He has done rather unique and bizarre films in the past and Where The Wild Things Are is another weird one of his. Another difference is that he previously did psychological films but Where The Wild Things Are is a family film. I prefer Jonze films like Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. I think the only Oscar nomination this film will be nominated for is Best Original Score or maybe Best Make-Up.
Overall, Where The Wild Things Are is a very good entertaining family film. It isn't quite one of the best of 2009 but isn't far off. It's a good film choice for a Saturday night with a pizza and a lager or with your family.
8/10
