As a fan of director Spike Jonze and all the voice actors in the big foam suits (later enhanced with computer generation by, among others, Jim Henson's Creature Shop), I can recommend this blockbuster to adults and older teens. But as a protective parent I have misgivings about showing it to children. Not having read the book I watched videos (one simple and another slightly more complex) to see if it was scary. It was not. But in the movie, the main Wild Thing, Carol (voice of James Gandolfini, his mouth-breathing audible, just as when he played Tony Soprano), is moody and slightly dangerous. I think that would have upset my daughter when she was under ten, so I worry about others' kids. Also, not having had sons nor younger brothers, I don't know if it would be a good thing to show, say, my little great-nephews that Max could run full speed through the forest, or worse yet, his house, without anyone getting hurt (maybe I'm more concerned for their mothers, my nieces!). But I'm not an expert on little boys.
THIS JUST IN: Anne has just told me that Maurice Sendak has a rejoinder for parents who are loath to take their kids to the movie. He said they/we should "Go to hell." Maybe I should lighten up.
Jack and I had eagerly anticipated this movie because of Jonze (Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002)) and the fabulous trailer, especially Arcade Fire's song, Wake Up, re-recorded for just this purpose. Apparently Jonze was inspired by Arcade Fire's CD Funeral (from whence Wake Up originated). Yet Arcade Fire doesn't appear anywhere on the soundtrack, available here for your listening pleasure.
That being said, we were glad we saw it. The Henson creatures were appropriately cuddly, until they weren't. Max Records was totally believable as Max, with a full range of emotion. It's always nice to see Catherine Keener (among my faves: Living in Oblivion, Lovely & Amazing (2001), The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), Being John Malkovich), albeit in the small role of Max's mother. In case you would like to know ahead of time which excellent actor's voice is behind which Wild Thing, besides Gandolfini: Catherine O'Hara (faves: After Hours (1985), Beetle Juice (1988), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Capote (2005), For Your Consideration (2006) and Away We Go) is Judith with a horn on her nose, Forest Whitaker (excellent in everything, but some notable performances were The Crying Game (1992), Charlie "Bird" Parker in Bird (1988), Ghost Dog in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), and Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006)) is big round Ira--they are a couple and are pictured here. Lauren Ambrose (sister Claire in HBO's Six Feet Under, and co-star of Starting Out in the Evening (2007) with Frank Langella) is KW, Paul Dano (he was in 2 episodes of The Sopranos, won much acclaim for Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and There Will Be Blood (2007), and was also great in The King (2005)) is Alexander, and I wracked my brain during the movie trying to identify the voice of Chris Cooper (won an Oscar for Adaptation, first came to my attention in John Sayles' Lone Star (1996), was intense and perfect in American Beauty (1999), and I must also mention Seabiscuit (2003) and Capote), who is the voice of Douglas (a parrot). I listened ahead of time to a couple of interviews (one, two) to fix some of the voices in my memory. After you see the movie this trivia will be interesting. It was fun making this a double feature with Zombieland, especially since both were dark and cartoonish.
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