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Little Max (Max Records) says a tearful goodbye to his pals in Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” |
The problem with filmmakers taking an extremely short children’s story and expanding it into a full-length feature film is that they’re taking an extremely short children’s story and expanding it into a full-length feature film.
Bo Welch tried it to disastrous effect in “The Cat in the Hat,” based on the Dr. Seuss classic, starring an irritating Mike Myers in the title role.
Ron Howard fared a little better in another bloated Seussian adaptation, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” saved by cutesy-poo Who makeup and Jim Carrey’s over-wrenched Grinch portrayal.
Now Maurice Sendak’s beloved 1963 children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” comes to the silver screen under the direction of Spike Jonze, whose previous work on two quirky Charlie Kaufman screenplays (“Adaptation” and “Being John Malkovich”) more than qualifies him to handle the darker edges of fantasy. (Sendak reportedly selected Jonze to direct this film after viewing “Being John Malkovich.”)
Jonze’s “Wild Things” possesses a lot of darker edges and deep crevices, more than you might remember in Sendak’s original, 338-word tale of a punished, rebellious child with a fervid imagination. (Read more…)