Posting about the Where the Wild Things Are trailer has already, in 24 hours, become the trucker hat of nerdblogging. Who am I to defy the status quo? Nobody, that's who.
I initially held off on a post about this trailer because ... I didn't like it. I yield to nobody in my love for Spike Jonze, or at least Being John Malkovich. Ditto the Maurice Sendak book. And the visuals look great. The boat, which was my real obsession as a kid, looks perfect. I yield to everybody in my love of the Arcade Fire, but OK, no big deal. I'm just not sold on this yet.
My objections are twain:
One, and this is probably nothing, but I pray that the book hasn't been turned into a story about a little boy dealing with divorce, and that's why he dreams up the Wild Things. Clearly they've expanded Max's real-life story far beyond just getting sent to bed without his supper. But kids don't need divorcing parents to dream up Wild Things, their default setting is Wild. Isn't that part of the point? Plus, you know, I'm going to go to this for Wild Things, not for a buncha Kramer vs. Kramer feelings and such.
Two, and this is what really worries me: the Wild Things don't seem all that Wild. What I loved about the book was that the Wild Things actually felt dangerous -- you had the sense that if Max screwed up, they actually probably would eat him. So the fact that he dominated them wasn't just bad-ass, it also meant that he himself was fundamentally wild and dangerous.
But the vibe I'm getting off these Things isn't so much Wild as Sensitive and Nurturing. As if they were all just a bunch of big walking vintage sweaters who were there to help Max get in touch with -- wait for it -- his feelings. Max in the book doesn't have to get in touch with his feelings. He's so in touch with them, he has feelings coming out of every orifice! He has to master his feelings, not get in touch with them. Or he's going to tear the whole house apart.
p.s. here's the trailer in, per Ain't It Cool, "glorious Quicktime:"
p.p.s. update: the song is growing on me. Dammit!
I see exactly what you mean about the Wild Things not seeming all that Wild. With that said, this movie has been going through the ringer for some time now because the original cut was deemed "too scary for children". A compromise of some sort was reached, but Spike Jonze is adamant that he hasn't compromised his vision.
Ultimately, movie trailers are made by marketing companies, and they probably played up the "non-scary" elements of the Wild Things to lull parents into bringing their children.
mrhegemony
Mar. 26, 2009 12:11:pm
at 12:11:pm
It makes me sad that Hollywood is so desperate to not come up with story ideas that they are padding out books that would be three pages in plain text to be movies. Polar express.
tereglith
Mar. 26, 2009 17:00:pm
at 17:00:pm
[...] complete faith that you won’t disappoint us. In fact, there are many of us out there who are pretty worried. However, the trailer is absolutely beautiful and you have me feeling pretty optimistic about the [...]
Dork-a-thon » Blog Archive » Where the Wild Things Are
Mar. 27, 2009 23:53:pm
at 23:53:pm
I might not worry too much about the monsters being scary in this. Word from the test screenings is that children were extremely frightened by the film, so much so that the studio got worried.
mattcable
Mar. 28, 2009 22:35:pm
at 22:35:pm