Cinemas - Film of the Week - 10/12/09

Dec 9 2009 Crewe Chronicle

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (PG)

BASED on Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s story, this is not a sentimental coming-of-age story.

Spike Jonze’s visually-stunning adaptation unfolds through the eyes of an awkward nine-year-old boy, riddled with loneliness, despair and miscommunication.

Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers take Sendak’s original story – a mere 10 sentences and 338 words – and expand it into a 101-minute fantasy that attests to the brutality of childhood and the power of the imagination to temporarily keep harsh reality at bay.

Pint-sized hero Max (Max Records) rows with his mother (Catherine Keener) and runs off into the night.

By chance he finds a sailboat, which transports the lad to the home of a race of hulking, furry creatures called the Wild Things.

Where The Wild Things Are is heartbreaking, anchored by a mesmerising lead performance from Records.

HH