The Martlet

People keep calling Where the Wild Things Are “cute.” But something in that word doesn’t give enough credit to the beauty and depth achieved in this film about imaginary beasts.

Based on the classic children’s book by Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are is a romp through the imagination of a 9-year-old boy. Filled with childhood forts and igloos and dirt clod wars, Spike Jonze paints an energetic portrait of being young.

Newcomer Max Records, who plays Max, is a surprisingly agile actor. He moves between the type of boy who concocts a snowball sneak attack to one who cries and covers his sister’s bed in snow when his igloo is destroyed by her friends.

To the credit of his performance and the writing of Jonze and Dave Eggers, Records proves he can hold his own and even stand above his towering puppet co-stars.

The Wild Things, bulbous-headed creatures made by the Jim Henson Company, while merely beasts in the book, are fully realized characters in the film. Played by an all-star cast of James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Dano, Catherine Keener, Chris Cooper, Forest Whitaker and Lauren Ambrose, they’re vibrant and hilarious, bickering like only those who have known each other for too long can.

Yet in all their cumbersome buffoonery, their frailty is believable. When Max tells them he has secret powers, Gandolfini’s Carol asks, “Will it keep out all the sadness?” and it gets you in a way you don’t expect.

What’s really at the center of the film is the relationship between Carol and Max. It’s not just another standard movie friendship filled with fun and games. The pair have a truly deep understanding of one another. Both are searching for “a place where only the things you want to happen, would happen” and both think the other is going to solve all their problems.

It’s a beautiful and flawed friendship that is worth investing in, even when the darker side of Carol comes to the surface.

With the help of Sendak, Jonze and Eggers sought to bring more grit to the film, to the chagrin of Warner Brothers who thought the film was too dark for families.

This raises the question: is it still for kids?

Not really.

Jonze, not usually a kid-friendly filmmaker, is best known for his direction of Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.

In Wild Things, he proves himself surprisingly adept in his portrayal of childhood.

Kids and adults alike will love the adventures through sand dunes and forests that are child-like, but not childish; the frenetic first moments of the film as Max barrels through the house after his dog are a great example.

Beyond what may be too scary for the little ones, they will miss certain elements due to the subtlety of the film.

Little is explicitly stated, like the divorce of Max’s parents, leaving plenty of room for confusion. So maybe it’s a movie that is better appreciated if you’ve lived through childhood and can commiserate.

It may lose the younger generation, but weighty themes and subtlety give Where the Wild Things Are its heart.