Where the Wild Things Are
Last night Mike and I went out to see Where the Wild Things Are. Admittedly, I don't remember the book much, but I was quite excited to see how they would adapt a children's book into a feature length film. I am now convinced that is a rather difficult thing to do. I very much enjoyed the visual aspects; I found the cinematography stunning, the costumes sophisticated yet familiar, and the sets brillant. But I was rather diasppointed in the screenplay itself. There were moments which were terribly slow and non-engaging for me. I wanted the story to move along so that I could go home. If you tell me that this is a movie for children, I argue that it isn't. Yes, the dialogue is simple but the content is not. To quote Mike, "it's heady." The story is about emotions and relationships and while yes, it involves the emotions and relationships of a young boy, it's still a bit advanced to capture a child's attention for long. It's at a level beyond which children are capable of truly comprehending (though they seem to mature a a younger age these days, so who knows what they are mentally capable of) and there just isn't enough action to subsitute. Still, I'm glad I saw it and now I have the urge to reread the book.