'Where the wild things are' makes a succesful transition from book to screen in Spike Jonze's live action adaptation.

When word first came out that a movie adaptation of the classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” was going to be filmed, there was quite an understandable apprehension among the fans of the book. After all, how could a book with 10 sentences in it be stretched to fill in 90-minutes of screen time?

Even the production itself was plagued with setbacks, as if fate itself didn’t want this film made.

The idea was first floated in the 1980s, and constantly changed directors and producers before finding a home with Warner Bros. and Spike Jonze. When test screenings of the film in 2008 “scared” children, Warner Bros. imposed a year-long delay.

Now, more than two decades since rumors about the adaptation first floated around, Spike Jonze’s take on the classic now reaches Philippine shores as “Where the Wild Things Are” is now screening at select cinemas in the metropolis.

But does the film – with all its attendant buzz – live up to the hype that has built steadily since its inception? Or do the “Wild Things” end up being particularly tame?

In a child's imagination

Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” is a simple book with a deep theme: a child best resolves the problems he has with the real world in his own imagination. Sendak accomplishes this masterfully in less than 20 pages, and without alienating his young readers to boot.

While the implications are clear enough to his adult readers, young ones are able to enjoy the sight of one of them living it up with a host of friendly monsters.

What Jonze does in his adaptation is take the book’s underlying message and pushes it as far as he possibly can. In this version of the “Wild Things”, the monsters are equally menacing as they are charming. They even threaten to eat the film’s young hero early on in the movie.

This treatment succeeds with mixed results. Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” will certainly catch the attention of cineastes looking for a film about childhood with a bite, but the final product may leave more than a few parents apprehensive about taking their kids to watch it.

True to the book

Parental concerns aside, “Where the Wild Things Are” is one of the better book-to-movie adaptations to come around, with Jonze making the material his own without losing its heart in the process.

A lot of this is due to Max Records, the boy who plays the film’s protagonist. With his wide eyes, soulful stare, and easy vulnerability, it is easy to root for him as he slowly comes to terms with his feelings in the land of the Wild Things.

The Wild Things themselves are animatronic wonders. Jonze’s decision to work with puppets instead of CGI could just as easily have worked against him – there is a reason why nobody has heard of the “The Country Bears Movie”. While they can be funny, the Wild Things are far from comical. Emotions like fear, sadness, and loneliness come as easy to them as they do to the movie’s live actors.

In the end, “Where the Wild Things Are” may be more of a movie about childhood – as Spike Jonze Winsists it is – rather than a children’s movie, and that is not entirely a bad thing. The movie certainly stays true to the book’s intent, and nobody can ask for anything more than that.