Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 251
Fresh: 184 | Rotten: 67
Some may find its dark tone and slender narrative off-putting, but Spike Jonze's heartfelt adaptation of the classic children's book is as beautiful as it is uncompromising.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 49
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 18
Some may find its dark tone and slender narrative off-putting, but Spike Jonze's heartfelt adaptation of the classic children's book is as beautiful as it is uncompromising.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 281,941
Movie Info
Visionary director Spike Jonze brings Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book to the big screen with the help of hipster icon Dave Eggers, who teamed with Jonze to pen the adapted screenplay. A mixture of real actors, computer animation, and live puppeteering, Where the Wild Things Are follows the adventures of a young boy named Max (Max Records) as he enters the world of the Wild Things, a race of strange and enormous creatures who gradually turn the young boy into their king. ~ Jason
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Cast
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Max Records
Max -
Catherine Keener
Mom -
James Gandolfini
Carol -
Paul Dano
Alexander -
Catherine O'Hara
Judith -
Forest Whitaker
Ira -
Michael Berry Jr.
The Bull -
Chris Cooper
Douglas -
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Pepita Emmerichs
Claire -
Max Pfeifer
Claire's Friend -
Steve Mouzakis
Teacher -
Mark Ruffalo
The Boyfriend -
Joshua Jay Santiago
Claire's Friend -
Ryan Corr
Claire's Friend -
Vincent Crowley
Carol Suit Performer -
Sonny Gerasimowicz
Alexander Suit Performe... -
Nick Farnell
Judith Suit Performer -
Sam Longley
Ira Suit Performer -
Angus Sampson
The Bull Suit Performer -
Mark McCracken
The Bull Suit Performer -
John Leary
Douglas Suit Performer -
Alice Parkinson
KW Suit Performer -
Garon Michael
KW Suit Performer -
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Where the Wild Things Are Trailer & Photos
All Critics (253) | Top Critics (49) | Fresh (184) | Rotten (67) | DVD (6)
'Where the Wild Things Are' stands out for its unusually potent evocation of the timbre of childhood imagining, with its combination of the outré and the banal, grand schemes jumbled up with delicate feelings and the urge to smash things up.
Top Critic[Jonze has] achieved with the cinematic medium what Sendak did with words and pictures: He's grasped something true and terrifying about love at its most unconditional and voracious.
Wild Things, you do not make my heart sing.
Intellectually interesting, visually arresting and filled with invention, there's just one crucial thing Where the Wild Things Are is missing: wildness.
Spike Jonze, we salute you.
Director Spike Jonze gets that Max's subsequent journey to the far-off island of the wild things is nothing less than an odyssey into his mind.
Jonze has created a world in which even "wild things" can be full of personality and fun to be around.
Stretches to spectacular, big-screen proportions the soaring, roaring fancy of Maurice Sendak's classic 1963 bedtime tale.
It's kind of astonishing when something this odd slips through the cracks of the Hollywood mainstream.
If you want something light and fluffy to take the kids to see, you're better off looking elsewhere.
It's almost as if they were afraid to redefine the book, and left things as free-floating and ambiguous as possible. ... it's all meandering, abstract non-story that isn't helped by the muddy color palette
This is not a coming-of-age film. It's an end-of-innocence film. And that makes every moment, be it funny or sad, so beautiful and so heartbreaking at the same time. You'll want to hug it and hold onto it, as if it were your childhood sailing away.
If you ever laughed uncontrollably while engaged in a childhood snowball fight, built intricate forts out of your grandmother's afghan blankets, or made up the rules to complex playground games, in the middle of the game, then this film is for you.
A beautiful and languid testament to the importance of remembering how powerful our childhoods really were.
Never having read the book, it must be better than this.
For me, it was a hard, uphill climb just to say I'd reached the top.
Sendak sums up the joy and miracle of creative passion, even as he acknowledges dreaded mortality lurking in the existential shadows.
Where the Wild Things Are imaginatively evokes the childhood fears and wonders experienced when trying to make sense of the world.
Uma espécie de "Anticristo" Jr., o filme abraça o universo psicológico de seu protagonista como estrutura narrativa, levando o espectador para uma viagem por vezes perturbadora - mas sempre tocante - à psique de Max.
The conversations and interactions [Jonze] orchestrates, whether real, imaginary, spoken with an inner voice, or cried aloud, are delivered with the unmistakable rhythm and in the grandiose rubber and glue terminology of children.
Bring the Prozac . . .
It's a divisive and sometimes difficult film, but if you let it into your heart, you'll end up grateful.
Exploring the mind of an angry little boy, Where the Wild Things Are is an psychological exploratory fantasy of intriguing depth.
A film for anyone who's ever climbed trees, grazed knees or basked in the comfort of a parent's sympathy as they've pulled you off the ground crying. It'll make your inner child run wild.
Don't go expecting joyous escapism, but if you're interested in seeing melancholic auteur filmmaking, complete with a lush soundtrack... you won't see a more compelling film this year.
Audience Reviews for Where the Wild Things Are
Super Reviewer
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- Douglas: Will you keep out all the sadness?
- Max: I have a sadness shield that keeps out all the sadness, and it's big enough for all of us.
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- Carol: I don't apologize to owls. Owls are stupid.
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- Judith: Happiness isn't always the best way to be happy.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Where the Wild Things Are
May 8, 2012:
Maurice Sendak: 1928-2012Celebrate the award-winning author's career by watching Spike Jonze's documentary about his life.
December 11, 2009:
The Effects of Where the Wild Things AreSpike Jonze's eagerly-anticipated adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are was...
December 7, 2009:
Exclusive: The World of Where the Wild Things AreIt has taken Being John Malkovich and Adaptation director Spike Jonze more than five years to bring...
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 770671948 Title: Where the Wild Things Are Release Date: 2009-10-16 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 2 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen (DE)
- Max et les maximonstres (FR)
Where the Wild Things Are is visually fantastic pice of work and has this emotional rawness that makes it something truly touching to sit through. At it's core this is a heartbreaking story about the end of childhood but it is also so much more. Jonze's approach to Maurice Sendak's source material is fresh and adds nice little details into the story. Of course there has been some expansions made here because Sendak's story is basically quite simple and short. With these expansions writers Dave Eggers and Jonze succeeds.
Overall there is nothing to complaint here when it comes to story, actors or the fantastic production and creature design. My personal complaints, which are minor, are mostly towards the film's score that just does not live up to the rest of the film. Karen O is a gifted artist but here her music is mostly distracting when it should be something that pulls you in. There is basically nothing wrong in composer Carter Burwell's sections in music but Karen O's material just sounds too hip and sadly lessens the film's overall impact. Lead actor Max Recors is fantastic as a young Max and all the supporting voice actors does equally impressive work. Catherine Keener and Mark Ruffalo instead does not get enough room to show their talents and their roles are a bit too hollow to become important enough here.
Where the Wild Things Are is a film with big heart. It has rare warmth in it and it is equally suitable for kids and adults too. It is no masterpiece but it is a damn fine entertainment with a unique vision in it.