It was two enthusiastic thumbs up for Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are on At the Movies. Okay, fine, it wasn’t exactly thumbs but you get the idea – early review, positive response. AO Scott said:
“This is one of the most unusual and audacious big budget children’s movies ever made. And also one of the saddest. And I think kids will be fine with it. Kids will understand the mood and the way that Max interacts with the real world and with the imaginary world. I think some parents will be frightened of it because it takes those emotions so seriously. It goes so deep. But this is a wonderful movie.”
Michael Philips:
“I was completely unprepared for the emotional texture of Where the Wild Things Are. ” And “It won’t be for everyone but for me it was pure magic.” And “It’s unbelievable how beautifully this is handled.”
(thanks to Nick for the headsup):
They go on for a while. Meanwhile, over at the Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt wasn’t so keen on the film:
Children might enjoy the goofy monsters and their fights and squabbles, but adults likely are to grow weary of the repetitiveness. In the end, the book probably was too slender to support a 102-minute movie. Without a quest to propel the story, such as Dorothy’s journey in “The Wizard of Oz,” the movie turns into an afternoon-special with an easily digested moral that fails to grab youngsters by the collar and shake them up with an exciting adventure.
And Variety’s Todd McCarthy had much the same reaction:
Free to have the wild things speak however they wanted, Jonze and Eggers surprisingly give them the voices and attitudes of middle-aged urban kibitzers; vaguely complainy and neurotic, the creatures are dominated by their sense of isolation and sadness. On the face of it, this is a choice with some wit behind it. But it also defangs the beasts from the outset — one never fears that any of them would dream of making a meal out of Max — and in the long run makes them far too ordinary.
ADDENDUM: We can include this positive review from Emanuel Levy. [RCA]
Facing the greatest artistic challenge of his career to date, one that has taken half a decade and a budget north of $80 million to execute, Jonze has set out to make an adult movie about childhood for both young and mature viewers, rather than a children’s movie per se; the movie, like the book, does not talk down to young people…
The best element of Jonze’s vividly imagined adaptation is the acting, and the director should be commended for gathering an ensemble of gifted actors that, while covered with suits, still manage to be impressive and singular in both delivery of dialogues and behavioral gestures. Each of the participants is a fully conceived individual creature with motivations and behaviors all his/her own, defined by gender, physical appearance, marital status, and tangled social relationships.