Minority Movie Report - Vincent

When I first heard that they were adapting Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are into a movie, two questions instantly came to mind:

1) Will my childhood get lured with candy into a van, beaten with a sack of quarters, raped by a drunken Michael Bay, then dropped off broken and bleeding a block away?

2) How the fuck will they stretch a children's book with fewer lines than a pocketful of fortune cookies into a feature film?

Upon viewing the trailer for the first time, both questions were answered:

1) It will not be a raping, only a slight molestation, and by an uncle at that.

2) I don't care.

As far as adaptations go, my jaw dropped. The opening sequence calmed my fears - the monster looked decent and I didn't have the urge to slam the kid in the face with a shovel (a sign of good casting). When the music started I popped a boner. I may have even spurted a lil dog water. Seriously, Wakeup is probably one of my favourite songs (not just cause I'm Canadian, Arcade Fire is amazing - check them out) and although it works in pretty much any trailer outside the the horror genre, it seems like it was made for this movie. It synced up perfectly with the cuts and I sat in silence for a few minutes after it was over, just to absorb it all in.

Everything about this trailer is sublime. I am truly happy (but not grateful since those studio douchebags fucked us with Michael Bay) that it was given to a fitting director. I love Spike Jonze (he did my favourite movie of all time) and this has escalated him into the upper echelons of directors. Why? Because instead of making this into a heavy CG explosionfest done for the purpose of selling books and marketing toys, Jonze has kept the quirky (almost too fake to be CG) atmosphere by making the monsters realistic, not perfect. It adds a sense of crudeness to it, which I find more warm and identifiable. There are probably only a handful of directors that could pull this off (the only other that comes to my mind is Michel Gondry) and I'll say they made a wise choice.

Of course, this is only the trailer and I could be dead wrong. I jizzed myself over the trailer of another classic book brought to the screen, only to be sorely disappointed: The Watchmen. When I heard they were making a Watchmen movie (for reals this time!) I was appalled. Seriously, you cannot adapt a 12 issue comic and another 20 odd pages of prose with themes and plots as deep as that onto 3 hrs of film. Alan Moore has always been my favourite writer (ever since V for Vendetta, more so after Lost Girls!) and now I know why he never watches things adapted from his books (hell, he didn't even let them use his name in the credits ~ seriously, how can you say something is CO-created without listing both people?). However, when I got Mike's call at the asscracks of dawn that the trailer for Watchmen was out, I bolted up and headed to Apple trailers. No other movie, let alone a trailer, would get me up that early. When I watched it, I came. Then I watched it again. And again. And again. Until nothing but air ejaculated. That is how much it blew my mind. And that is how much Where the Wild Things Are blew my mind. Let us pray that this does not bomb as badly as Watchmen.

As much as I hate that they are whoring out bits and pieces of my childhood. I can live with it if it's done with half a brain. I know this will never equal my book experience as a kid, but I can appreciate that they made it without selling out the visuals. Come this fall, I will most definitely line up to see it opening day. If it's anywhere as good as the trailer I will be happy. If it sucks, at least he tried and I'll still have Adaptation.

~V