Lights, Camera, Action!

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Starring: Max Records, James Gandolfini, and Catherine Keener

I’ll be completely honest here, I have no idea whatsoever where to start with this, so, I’ll simply start by saying this: This is one of the best movies (recent or otherwise) that I have ever seen. And I’ve seen quite a lot of movies over the 15 years of my existence. This movie is near perfect; the acting, the direction, the visuals, the music, the script… the list goes on, but, it truly is one of the best movies that I have ever seen.

The plot is very similar from the beloved children’s book (which I haven’t read in quite a while, so, this is simply the plot of the movie, and not that of the book). Max (played by Max Records) is a young child who isn’t exactly the most relaxed and nicest of kids out there, and, after being sent to his room without dinner, he runs off, and, finding a ship in his neighbours’ yard, travels for days and nights until he finds land. This land is inhabited by Wild Things; large, threatening, and yet seemingly fuzzy things that, after being convinced to not eat him, crowns Max their king.

I doubt that can explain the entire plot very well, but honestly, I don’t know exactly how to explain it, because there isn’t a lot of plot. It’s very “freeverse”, in a sense. Once Max gets to this land of the Wild Things, over the course of 90 minutes or so, he partakes in having a “Wild Rumpus”, builds a giant fort, has a dirt clod war, and so much more. The plot is very loose, but, that’s ok. It’s ok because this is truly a movie about childhood, and that’s the way that childhood is. Childhood isn’t so set out that you will do everything in order, and it would all make sense, and this movie captures that perfectly.

The director, Spike Jonze, who has also directed Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, has really made this movie into a masterpiece. He spent years trying to get his idea to the screen, and after years of hard work, it paid off. This movie is truly a masterpiece; visually, and in many other ways.

The acting is also superb. Max Records completely changes the idea of what can be expected in a child actor, and, this really changed what goes into a performance by a child actor. He shows everything that he has to perfectly; when he’s supposed to be sad, he’s sad (perfectly). When he’s supposed to be angry, he’s angry (perfectly). No matter what he’s supposed to be, he shows it incredibly!

Many people were very surprised as casting James Gandolfini (famous for his role in The Sopranos) as the lead Wild Thing, but, after seeing it, it’s clear that he was perfect for the role. One moment, he’s cuddly and sweet, and the next morning, he’s chasing max around, threatening to eat him. He voices the role amazingly.

And, adding to the actors is the visual. I must ask Spielberg and Lucas to take note, because they did this entire movie completely on location. And this includes the desert that you can see in the poster above. Yes, they did that without using green screens, or CGI. Another thing, they didn’t use animation or CGI for the Wild Things. They actually made those suits, and the only thing that was CGI were the eyes and mouth. You completely believe everything that you see, and it just wouldn’t have that impact if it wasn’t for the fact that it was all real.

I could go on forever on this movie, but, I can summarize this entire review in two words: SEE IT! This is truly one of the best movies that I have ever seen, and, it is truly a masterpiece!

I must warn you, though, this is a love it or hate it movie. I’ve heard of many people who completely hated it, and I can accept that. I mean, quoting a good friend of mine, “everybody is entitled to their own wrong opinion”. But, I recommend this movie to anybody; children, adults, anybody. See this movie.

Rating: 10/10

Keep on watching!

R.S.

This entry was posted on November 20, 2009 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.