Blu-Ray Review: Magic of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ Grows With Every Viewing

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CHICAGO – Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” is a beautiful, moving, daring, complex, gorgeous piece of filmmaking that was underappreciated during its theatrical release but that I can guarantee you will have a long, beloved life on Blu-ray and DVD. With well over 200 films seen in 2009, “Where the Wild Things Are” rose to the top for this critic. It may not win any Oscars on Sunday, but history will regard it as the best film of last year.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

“Where the Wild Things Are” may have radically divided critics and audiences when it was in theaters but there’s one thing not open to debate - it is undeniably one of the most remarkably ambitious films in years. Instead of literally adapting Maurice Sendak’s beloved book, Jonze and his collaborative team, including credited co-writer Dave Eggers and regular star Catherine Keener, have tried to recreate the feelings, emotions, and intangibles associated with the classic book instead of literally adapting it. Remember the way the book made you feel? That’s what they’re trying to make, not just another kid’s flick.

Where the Wild Things Are was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 2nd, 2010.
Photo credit: Warner Brothers Home Video

“Where the Wild Things Are” is a masterpiece about the incredible power of imagination. Fantasy is a common tool, especially in childhood, for not just escaping from reality but coping with it as well. Jonze’s film is open to interpretation, but to this viewer it is about a child dealing with becoming a man in the shadow of confusion caused by being a child of divorce.

Where the Wild Things Are was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 2nd, 2010. Photo credit: Warner Brothers Home Video

Max (Max Records, in one of the best child debut performances ever) is a lonely, frustrated young man watching the days when he was the king of the world with his own mother and sister fade away. He is no longer the center of the universe — his snow igloo has been destroyed, his mom (Keener) has a new man (Mark Ruffalo) in her life, and his sister would rather hang with her friends than play with him.

Naturally, Max travels to an imaginary land where he is king again. But even there issues of loyalty, family, love, and growing up to put childish things behind pervade the story. Daringly conceived, brilliantly produced, and with a lingering power that’s akin to some of the most beloved family films ever made, “Where the Wild Things Are” is perfect.

The plot of “Where the Wild Things Are” is essentially still as simple as Sendak’s book — a kid goes to a world with wild creatures and comes home again. The creatures are led by the moody Carol (James Gandolfini), a lovable but also easily frustrated and confused being who feels recently betrayed by KW (Lauren Ambrose) because she, like Max’s sister, is spending more time with new friends. The rest of the wild things (including Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Chris Cooper) are playful but there’s also insecurity and loneliness in these creatures, all of whom could be read as parts of Max’s own persona or just products of an adolescent imagination.

Despite some critical and viewer backlash on its theatrical release, I honestly feel that Where the Wild Things Are will eventually mean something to everyone, even those turned off by it on first viewing. Much like the book, greeted with confusion and raised eyebrows on its initial release by parents who deemed it too dark, this work will take time to become a beloved family classic.

Family films typically spoon feed their audience with easy moral lessons and simple stories, so expectations for something like “Where the Wild Things Are” led viewers to feel like they were still hungry when it was over. Give it another chance. Let what Jonze and his team have done here sink in and register not just with your expectations of the family film but memories of your own childhood. Go back to those days when all stories didn’t need to make perfect sense. Let this masterpiece resonate not just with your head but your heart.

The excellent Blu-ray release of “Where the Wild Things Are” includes an entire short film based on Sendak’s “Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life” featuring voice work by Meryl Streep and Forest Whitaker. It’s a cute little tale that runs a bit long but when judged purely as a special feature, it’s pretty kick ass. Other features include the “HBO First Look” at the film and a series of short behind-the-scenes featurettes by Lance Bangs that rule but should have been offered in a Play All structure. The lack of commentary is a bit disappointing, but the quality of the film, the excellent technical transfer, the short film, and the interesting Bangs shorts make this a frontrunner for best Blu-ray of the year to date.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com