In Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," less -- 10 sentences, 37 pages, 338 words -- became more: a much-loved children's book that's sold more than 19 million copies worldwide, 10 million in the U.S.
In the new film version of Sendak's classic, more -- admired director Spike Jonze, smart co-screenwriter Dave Eggers, top-flight actors including Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini and Forest Whitaker, and a budget estimated at $80 million to $100 million -- has paradoxically become less: a precious, self-indulgent cinematic fable that not everyone is going to love.
The difficulty starts with how little the filmmakers had to work with. A feature-length narrative had to be teased out of a tale that fit nicely into an eight-minute animated short back in 1973. Left to their own devices in filling in the book's blanks, the filmmakers have come up with a misdirected pastiche that will please neither children nor their parents, something so empty and misconceived it makes you glad you're an adult.
To fill in those spaces, "Wild Things" chose to make explicit what was implicit, which means emphasizing and expanding the sullen and hostile brattiness of 9-year-old protagonist Max. Those qualities are of course present in the book -- it's one of the reasons it was controversial on publication -- but blowing them up this way in effect turns the film into a sanctification and celebration of some of the most childish aspects of being a child.
That's a shame because Jonze's idea that the beasts should be portrayed by people inside enormous costumes designed to duplicate the Sendak wild things by the Jim Henson Creature Shop, in effect hipster versions of NFL team mascots, is a fine one. Up to a point. For once these beings open their computer-generated mouths, a whole other set of problems arise.
Before we get to those creatures, however, a healthy chunk of time is given over to Max's back story. Played by young Max Records, he's introduced tearing around the house in his trademark wolf suit and trying to pounce on his beleaguered dog. No it's not an ad for Ritalin, it's business as usual for Max, who has a weakness for resorting to violence when things don't go his way and then going all pouty when the uncaring world gets violent in return.
This kind of behavior reaches its apex when Max's divorced mom (Catherine Keener) brings her boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) home for dinner, which puts stressed-out Max so out of sorts he bites her on the shoulder. Hard.
