Where The Wild Things Are

I had been looking forwards to this film for a long time. Putting aside the slight chill it gave me to see kids in the topshop WTWTA tee walking in to the film and the steady doubt brought on by several bad reviews, I went in.

I felt as if this was the best evocation of childhood I had ever seen. It seemed to really work. It's also how I feel now as well. So on a very personal level it seemed to work. There are some really funny/absurd moments in the dialogue, and coming from a wild thing they work quite well. The way it skips from night to day to night marks it as an imagined place, and doesn't really confuse the viewers understanding of time, but allows Max to tell the story in a more dramatic way.

One of the reviews I read complained about the simplicity of the links between the real world and the world of the wild things. However, I thought this was just right. It's really hard to completely separate yourself from your imagination. This is what is shown from the beginning, when Max assumes his sisters superior role whilst ordering the fence around and when telling his mom the story about the vampires. When his life is reflected in the wild things it is spread out across the different characters and develops and transforms as he is able to spend more time with them. It is only towards the end when he recognises his similarity to the goat, who occupies the same kind of place as Max within the family of wild things.

The film has a meandering quality and probably due to the familiarity of the book which is very short, seems long in places. It is quite glorious in it's cinematography. As a technically children's film it is able to paint a very painterly, rich landscape. Cherry blossom, sunsets and snow enjoy a purely aesthetic role. The part of Max's escape that can be further separated from his life, embellished and enjoyed.