esrosedotblog

YOU MAKE MY HEART SING

Today's movie was Spike Jonze' take on Maurice Sendak's

Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Jonze wrote the script with Dave Eggers.

This is not animation or pixar, it is puppetry. Body suits. They say there is some CGI on the faces. I don't know. I thought it was people in there.

The audio is the thing here. A surprise. The actor voices are stupendous and go with the puppets facial expressions. The sound is quite intimate. Deep. Something unusual. They are in the microphone.

This is not to say that the production is not first rate in every way. It is. But I think that the sound and the voice acting of the wild things make it.

This is contrary to my belief, often expressed here, that it is a waste of money to have "star" voices. Here, they are stars, but are not presented that way. You do not think of who is speaking. It is the character. Period. They could be anonymous. And should be.

Jonze has done well with this.

And the kid. Max Records. What a name!

I did not expect to like this. I do not think that I "let" our kids read the book(s). I thought it too scary or weird.

I may be wrong on this and stand to be corrected from the kids themselves.

I am still glad that I didn't have them then. They and the film are for adults. Yes?

In any case these characters are filled to the brim with existential dread. They have fear, doubt and insecurity up to the brim.

There are "types" in a way but not stereotypes.

There is violence. Mindless and random.

The whole thing nicely sums up a nightmare version of a very real world with all these things.

Of course, the whole thing is a boy's dream.

I liked it even if it seemed kinda long at times. I looked at the clock on the DVD player three times.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: film