Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Tagline: There’s one in all of us.

Plot: Max (The perfectly, improbably named Max Records) is a bat shit insane terror of a child. After killing his dog with his bare hands, he starts a snowball fight that goes poorly and cockblocks his mom (Catherine Keener). After nearly killing his mother in a fit of cannibalistic rage, Max steals a boat and hightails it to a mysterious island, home of the Bipolar Things. There, he befriends a monster named Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini, Surviving Christmas) and his cohorts. He bullshits his way to the top, forcing the locals into a sort of socially mandated slavery so they will build him his own Death Star, a fortress capable of cutting out peoples’ brains.

Thoughts: The more I think about it, the more I dislike Where the Bipolar Things Are. I’m generally OK with film adaptations of books that change the source material, as long as they capture the spirit of the original. Given that author Maurice Sendak’s book could be written word for word on a napkin, with space for an illustration or two, I’m a little less forgiving in that regard. What director Spike Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers did here was force a Garden State sensibility on to Where the Wild Things Are. You’ve got the indie soundtrack, a love interest with oh so adorable quirks, and a cast of characters that would greatly benefit from therapy and mood-altering medications (Plus both films ignore the main characters’ real problem, which is getting along with their respective parents). The film briefly captures the manic energy of childhood in all its best and worst moments, but mostly settles into a groove of people just grating on each other all the time.

What bothers me more is that the story takes a positive message (Imagination can’t fix everything; you need to deal with your life) and mangles the delivery into something far less uplifting (It’s OK to leave your friends once you get sick of their shit). Sure, there are positives: Jonze’s cinematography is characteristically dazzling, the Bipolar Things look great overall, and the cast is pretty solid, with Records and Gandolfini standing out. But the parts don’t compensate for the tone of the story, which boils down to “Life sucks, deal with it, and don’t bite your mother.” Sure, the film is emotionally affecting at times, but so are Up and Coraline, two family friendly flicks from 2009 that beat this movie on every level, from story to pacing to music to visuals.

Reflection: I’m so glad my childhood consisted of Masters of the Universe and Sega Genesis.