An impressive and well thought out argument, I tip my hat off to you. I am very exicted about this film, i think i’ve watched the trailer more times then i can remember. Spike Jonze is a very good director and it looks like they’ve got every element of the film right including acting, directing, costumes etc. I’m also very exicted about the sound of Lance Acord on board for another Jonze film as he is one of my favourite cinematographers. The fact that jonze and his team have used henson-style puppets to bring the monsters to life and only using subtle hints of CGI is a stroke of genius. This does look like a masterpiece and i pray it doesn’t disapoint, but i very much doubt it will.
I worry about any mainstream film being good but I must admit I am excited to see this one. The trailer with Sendak speaking to Jonze sold me that it may be something to see. Let’s hope.
I’ll be seeing this film about a week before it is released, so I will be sure to post my thoughts.
Anything is possible but I believe deeply in my heart that this film wont disappoint people.
Spike Jonze is a wonderul gift for the film business!
Impossible + Spike Jonze = A Masterpiece
There is no way this could be bad. Watchmen was only ‘bad’ because it tried to condense an ultra-complex multi-tiered story into a couple of hours. Where the wild things was…20 pages that were relatively wordless.
And Mike Spence I am excited when a good mainstream movie is super successful. The success of D9 and Inglorious Basterds i think show the big companys that for the most part we want actual quality in our films and they will hopefully start investing into movies like that more often.This movie might be the film of the decade.
At the very least, it’s one of the greatest trailers I’ve ever seen.
At first I was like nah…. but then I saw the new preview and it reminded me of The Little Prince and thats when it hit me that maybe this film could be really good.
I’m thinking if my calculations aren’t correct, that I will be able to experience a double feature of Where the Wild Things Are and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, as they come out close to each other.
Anybody sense the magic that that viewing will be? I simply may not survive, dealing in alchemy of such power.
(So if I don’t come back after October, you know what happened to me. Don’t bother searching, I’m in a place as close to heaven as non-heaven places can get).
—PolarisDiB
It is always possible that a favorite director will make a bad film.
I’m not a fan of Spike Jonze’s films at all. I doubt I’ll bother with this one.
Your concerns about his writing skills as director are well founded. This is the same issue that every commercials/musicvideo director has. Amazing visuals for lack of content. I will see this film due to my duties as uncle.
Who knows. You never know. Also, you have to win over people who did not grow up with that book, to whom the book means nothing. Like me – all I know is the cover illustration, which I never really liked and wondered what’s so great about Sendak anyway.
it looks beautiful… we can only hope- i have no expectations for anything anymore. i try not too read too much- peek too much- then i just see if i have enough time away from work to make to to the theater (time can be forced if certain friends tell me YOU MUST SEE THIS IN THE THEATER). 10 dollar adventure or 10 dollar nap… i would pay for either…
Love the book. Watched the trailer through increasingly smaller gaps in my fingers. IMHO it looked awful. Where the book was implicit and magical, the film appears to be the opposite – with Max now surrounded by single-mother, dysfunction syndrome, and the monsters his surrogate family. PLEASE!!! That brings me onto another topic about the growing trend in kids’ movies that have to contain a MESSAGE! But that’s for another day and another strand. As for this film, I’ll be giving it a wide berth: a cheesy, explicit, message-driven movie is certainly where the Wild Things shouldn’t be!
Thanks, Lermentov, you said it better than I could.
Yes, how horrible those MESSAGES are! Damn that Spike Jonze for daring to make children think, to show a world that isn’t a fairytale, to tell the truth. Too often our children are being subjected to things that might challenge their perception rather than being bombarded with safe sugary eye-candy. Yessir, we’ve got a bunch of those gosh-darn “intellectual” kids running around, and its about damn time we put a stop to that and give ’em a healthy dose of good old-fashioned ignorance. Bring on G-Force! Go hamsters go! Awaken our children from this despicable nightmare of thoughts and ideas! Because life is one adrenaline-fueled thrill ride after another, and its best we prepare them for that.
I think it’s pretty clear that Lermentov was talking about cliched Oprah type “messages” that don’t actually teach children anything but conservative, fearful platitudes.
Can’t wait to see it.
I see your point Justin and it is one I have come across a lot. It’s one I don’t agree with though. As a teacher of over ten years’ experience it’s not an area I am completely ignorant of either. My chagrin is more wide-spread than just the movie-world – which is just one element of a general trend which has been, I feel, an attack upon childhood itself. This cherished, evanescent space has been impinged upon and eaten away over the past two decades like no time in Anglospheric history. The rationale for this is a cherished belief that more input will produce greater outputs (and of course children playing with sticks won’t make money for anybody). This rocky road leads to the Baby Einstein series and Organised Play and Breakfast Clubs and exam revision for 7 year olds. What we are doing is, in effect, destroying childhood.
Contemporary children’s films seem similarly intent on filling this perceived void called childhood with life lessons. So Kung Fu Panda has to hit kids over the head with a, ‘believe in yourself (and lose some weight) and you can achieve anything; Shrek states ‘it’s not what’s on the outside, it’s what on the inside that counts (so don’t lose weight!); Madagascar 2 opines ‘love has no boundary’ and Happy Feet whilst diving in the pool of Overbearing Parental Expectation emerges at the behemoth of Being Different isn’t a Burden. What’s wrong with just cinema for cinema’s sake? Children’s films don’t have to adopt this production-line approach: Big Message + Pop Soundtrack + Big Dance Section in Middle + Adult Film Parodies (for Mum and Dad to laugh knowingly at). I still remember watching Clash of the Titans or Godzilla Vs the Cosmic Monster for the first time as a youngster and being absolutely blown away by them. There was no overt message or theme, it was pure childhood escapism or ‘a good old-fashioned dose of ignorance’ as you put it. Yet both films fuelled a life-long love of mythology and Japan. All we do when we cause them to consider life-problems at a young age: they way they look, parental relationships, self-esteem, is to grow them up far too quickly. ‘G-Force’ and ‘Go Hamsters Go’ isn’t the only alternative Justin – switching the TV/computer off and playing out is another!
We’ll agree to disagree then. For me it depends on the type of lesson, and the effect it has. The “lessons” you list are not the kind I think Spike Jonze is going for in WTWTA, I don’t think (again, speculation based on a trailer on both sides). I know that when I was a kid I was very much shaped by comic strips like Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes (if there was a piece of art to push the “go outside” theory, its this one). Both strips tended to portray childhood as a wondrous experience while not outright lying to kids that it was never going to end. Charlie Brown never gets to kick the football. That’s life. I understood that from an early age and I think I’m a better person for reading those books, or at least it contributed to who I am today (in the same way Clash of the Titans or Godzilla did for you). I’m not a fan of what Mike calls the “Oprah type” messages either. They’re dumb and trivializing, and are only in those movies because it allows the parents to feel good about taking their kids to see them. But if Jonze follows the book, and it seems like he has, the film will be a mix of childhood imagination with the problems of the real world. In one of the trailers the monster asks “you’re not really a king, are you?,” implying that Max’s journey (childhood), while fun, will eventually end some day and be replaced by a life where you are not a king. I can see what you’re saying, especially with the Baby Einstein thing which is just creepy, but I’m advocating for something that mixes the good with the bad, like Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, and WTWTA. That’s just a more honest approach, IMO. Because if we go too far toward the “escapism” route, you end up with a lot of people who never really grow up. And I run into them way more.
Disclaimer: Sorry, just having a pointless bitch… Everyone seems so impressed.
I usually have a film budget threshold of $25m. This film cost almost four times this amount. Unfortunately, I feel that if a profound story cannot be depicted with aesthetic flair under this budget, the excess is just banal visual wanking designed to fill seats, make money and pump out some more phallic massage discharge. Paint me a pretty picture, but I don’t need it to move…and explode.
My love for the book and Jonze make me want to break my morally instigated threshold and see this film. But much of my excitement for the film comes from a few pictures and a delicious trailer. A TRAILER.
I am sure that the profound message and aesthetics will not surpass those exuded by the original text, no matter how wonderful the film is. Could this be one more screen to pull you children away from?
I’m sure people already know about this, but there’s a nice article about this movie in the NYT Mag.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06jonze-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine
After having my soul raped by the Avatar trailer I’ve been trying to keep my expectations low, but I can’t help but be excited about this one. I can’t wait.
I feel slightly embarassed that two of the movies I’m looking forward to the most right now are kids movies (Where the Wild Things Are and The Fantastic Mr. Fox), but I still can’t wait to see either!
It’s possible…but you know, it’s gonna be awesome!
FINALLY I see this tonight in Boston advanced screening for Eggers’ charity 826 (branch: Boston).
FINALLY I see this tonight in Boston advanced screening for Eggers’ charity 826 (branch: Boston).
I really envy you Brandon…
Someone reviewed the SCRIPT, and said it was awesome. Pair that with the beautiful trailer, and, well, yeah.
Brandon Isaacson
Let’s go down the list:
1) Spike Jonze is a masterful director with many excellent music videos and two incredible films under his belt. Can he write well though?
2) Co-Writer Dave Eggers is an accomplished and critically acclaimed author of many successful novels including his memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, his major breakthrough work What is the What which has been used as summer reading for two universities Duke and Ohio State, and finally his new nonfiction work Zeitoun recounting one mans experience with Hurricane Katrina and the horrifying reaction by the American government. He also co-wrote a film with his wife that I personally loved but received mixed reviews by people and critics, Away We Go.
3) Actors- I won’t mention the voice actors but as for the real ones…Catherine Keener is excellent as is Mark Ruffalo. Who knows about the boy playing Max? That could be a fault.
4) Music- Carter Burwell and Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I’m going to list some of the many films Burwell has worked on…new Coen film A Serious Man, Burn After Reading, In Bruges, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, No Country For Old Men, Kinsey, Adaptation., Before Night Falls, Three Kings, Being John Malkovich, Fargo, Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing, and Raising Arizona…WOW. Now Karen Orzolek. Excellent excellent vocal artist. I could understand someone disliking her band but one usually recognizes her vocal prowess…Lastly, supposedly (I only saw this on wiki) Arcade Fire songs will be put into the film. This is very believable because they re-recorded their hit “Wake Up” for the trailer(s).
Cinematography- the cinematographer Lance Acord worked on Malkovich and Adaptation with Spike.
The Costume Designer worked with Spike also on those two films as well as Fincher’s Zodiac.
The final reason I’m dying to see this movie is the trailers. Max looks like he will do the job well, as well as Keener. The visuals for this film are incredible. The Wild Things were done very well as seen through the very new trailer. However many shitty movies have excellent trailers (Watchmen). What really got me is the featurette. Maurice Sendak seems very very taken by Spike and his film. I felt like I could hear him near tears the way he speaks about Spike’s film.
…Am I guaranteeing that this will be great by listing all these things? No. More like sharing my enthusiasm with everyone else =)
Arooooooooooo! Let the Wild Rumpus START!!