Where The Wild Things Are

Spike Jonze's "Where The Wild Things Are" isn't going to save movies or be the best thing anyone has seen or change anyones life. It's flawed, in a lot of ways, but the emotional resonance of the whole thing more than made up for it in my eyes.

THE GOOD

• Max--Max is absolutely expertly cast. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. He's totally free of precociousness, but still has the weight to deliver on the emotional moments. Think the absolute opposite of Abigal (awful) Breslin in "Little Miss Sunshine".
• Sets and Costumes--The Henson Company suits fit in so well to the atmosphere the film created. Just whimsical enough, it was refreshing to not be bombarded with CGI neon creatures in a kids (to the extent to which it is, which is not at all) movie. The sand dunes, the secret fort, and the forest were totally breathtaking too.
• Music--Obviously I love Karen O's soundtrack and thought that they blended in really well to the movie and lent it some tonal cohesion (with the exception of Worried Shoes which is an awful song and was distracting).
• Emotional Payoff--So many little scenes were totally devastating. Max and Carol's friendship is developed beautifully and in an understated way. Many little moments hit you hard, Carol and Max talking about the sun on the dunes, Max seeing Carol's model for the first time, the rumpus. It's bound to get a little dusty in the theater at some point.

THE BAD

• The Handy Cam--For some reason nearly every shot in this movie is done with a shaky handy cam, I guess this is supposed to put you in the moment and give some frenetic energy to the film, but in almost all cases it turns out looking sloppy and seems as if the choice was made for the sake of doing something different. So many times I found myself wishing that shots would just be opened up to a wide lens and held steady, they created such a beautiful world that it was a shame not to be able to see all of it.
• The Marketing--I really think a lot of the reason this movie isn't being as well received as people anticipated it to be is due to the marketing. The trailers mislead viewers into thinking they'd be seeing a whimsical, inspiring tale about imagination and friendship (I'm thinking mostly about the tagline "Inside all of us is hope, adventure, a wild thing"). The movie, in actuality, is BLEAK. The wild things are kind of horrible, and theres the fear that they'll kill Max looming throughout the whole movie. There's a lot of devastation and not much redemption, which could be really off-putting were you not prepared for it.