Bonus video review: "Where the Wild Things Are"

It's rare when the video extras for a major release have disappointed me as much as those for "Where the Wild Things Are."

Usually, I just chalk it up to laziness or complacency on the part of the studio. But in this case, I think the lack of more robust participation by the filmmakers is a real detriment to the video.

This difficult, personal and occasionally brilliant film from director Spike Jonze was much more than a screen translation of Maurice Sendak's seminal 1963 children's book about a boy who goes to live on an island full of (mostly) friendly monsters.

It was a journey guided by the filmmaker behind the fuzzy realities of "Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich" to explore the inner life of a child. It was not so much a movie for or about children, but an expression of what it's like to be a child, aimed squarely at grown-ups who have forgotten.

A video release of this film cries out for the interaction and participation of the principle creators -- Jonze and his screenwriting partner Dave Eggers. A commentary track would be a treasure of insight as they told us what they were thinking about when they brought Sendak's world to life.

Sadly, none of these are included on either the single-disc DVD or Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

The DVD's extra features are limited to four Webisodes totalling 13 minutes of video footage from the production. Mostly they're just rambling bits about getting dogs to bark or pranks. The only interesting tidbit is that Jonze had many of the principle crew bring their children to the set so star Max Records would feel like he was in a playground, instead of working for adults.

The Blu-ray version has four more short Webisodes, and a 23-minute film version of another Sendak book, "Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More to Life." It's a delightful combination of puppetry, animation and live action about a dog who runs away from home in order to get experience, taking on a job as a nanny to a crying baby, with a hungry lion waiting in the basement if she fails to get the baby to eat.

Although I appreciated the inclusion of the other film -- directed by the Oscar-nominated team of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski -- it doesn't add anything to our experience of "Where the Wild Things Are."

Perhaps Jonze is of the "I let my films speak for themselves" school of thought. That's his choice. But filmmakers who attempt such a bold, personal vision -- and fail to connect with audiences, according to the film's box office tallies -- would do well to offer more of themselves, about why they wanted to make this movie, about the choices they made, and what it means to them.

I, for one, would like to hear Jonze talk about why he decided to abandon the faces of the giant puppets of the monsters created by the Jim Henson workshop in favor of computer-animated ones. How about a comparison of the unadorned puppet heads split-screened with the final version? What about a featurette on envisioning and constructing the monsters' strangely beautiful castle?

These are just a handful of things that could have been, and should have been, included with "Where the Wild Things Are" to allow its fans to revisit, explore it more deeply, and contemplate what the cinematic experience meant to them.

Movie: 3.5 stars
Extras: 1.5 stars

Review: Where the Wild Things Are"

"Where the Wild Things Are" is one of the best movies I've seen at evoking what it's like to be a small child: the anger, the stubbornness, the neediness and the absolute, unlimited joy. Whether it's actually a movie for kids is another matter.

In adapting the iconic 1963 children's book by Maurice Sendak, director Spike Jonze undertakes his greatest flight of fancy -- and that's saying something for the filmmaker behind the loopy, distorted realities of "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation."

In adapting the story for film (along with fellow screenwriter Dave Eggers), Jonze necessarily had to use Sendak's book, which measures just a few dozen words, as a mere jumping-off point.

The book had the barest sketch of a plot: A boy Max is put to bed without supper for misbehaving, and his room turns into a jungle with an ocean that he sails across to an island filled with scary "wild things." He declares himself king of the beasts, and after a night filled with a "wild rumpus," he grows homesick and returns from whence he came.

In Jonze's version, the island of monsters becomes a playground where Max (a smashing Max Records) can hash out his problems, like anger (mostly at his parents' separation) and loneliness. The wild things -- visually distinctive but nameless in the book -- take on separate aspects of the boy's personality or emotions.

The monsters are a revelation, closely mirroring Sendak's illustrations while boasting an earthy, grubby immediacy. They were created by puppeteers from Jim Henson's company wearing giant suits. The faces were supposed to be mechanical, but Jonze replaced them with computer-generated animation after principal photography -- a wise move, based on how incredibly expressive the results are.

At first glance, it might seem that Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini) and KW (Lauren Ambrose) are supposed to represent Max's parents, with an unspoken hostility lying between them, fueled by KW's leaving the group to hang out with other island denizens.

But the wild things are just children, or at least behave like one. They represent the way children think and feel. At first hesitant around the strange boy in the wolf suit who claims to have special powers, they embrace him as their king. But soon, hostility and animosity creep in, and some cliques are formed.

I would not have thought Gandolfini, with his gravelly tough guy rasp, would make a very good voice actor, but he turns Carol into an intriguing figure, at times petulant and resentful, and other times gregarious and generous of spirit.

When Carol tells the boy, "You are the owner of this world," we feel his heart leap at the paternal tone. But after a terrible act of violence -- which may frighten younger audience members -- KW likens Carol's misbehavior to Max's: "He only makes it harder ... and it's hard enough already."

I could go on and on about this movie. "Where the Wild Things Are" is a very personal experience, less about an audience than a one-on-one connection between the film and each viewer. Because the wild things, partly good and partly bad, are inside every one of us. The child must discover them in order to grow up enough to master them.

3.5 stars