Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The film tells the story of Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are. Max lands on an island where he meets mysterious and strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. The Wild Things desperately long for a leader to guide them, just as Max longs for a kingdom to rule. When Max is crowned king, he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy. Max soon finds, though, that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

I certainly don’t envy Spike Jonze in the task of bringing this classic tale to the big screen. Anyone familiar with the book knows that it is a very short tale with only a few lines of text to accompany the gorgeous imagery. Jonze has fleshed out the story substantially though with this film, but keeps the tone in line with the story. First off, this is not a kid’s film. Despite the trailers and obvious throwbacks to the book’s imagery, the story is about childhood from a more adult viewpoint. Children would have a hard time understanding the underlying themes, which are depressing to say the least, but would probably enjoy the obvious imagery. Still the performances, even from the voice actors, are incredible here and every touch of emotion is displayed. Jonze and gang did an incredible job with the monsters and tackling the rather difficult emotional themes.

The Blu-ray presentation looks very faithful to the image I saw during its theatrical run. The image has a very film-like quality and lacks the spit and polish of the glossier digital presentations we’ve seen lately. Fine film grain is intact and I love the desaturated look of the image. Black levels can be a bit shifty from time to time, which can hurt depth slightly, but this is also what I saw in theaters. Fine object detail is outstanding and there are plenty of awe inspiring visual moments throughout. The soundtrack is also a lot of fun with a great score and mix of tunes by Karen O. Dynamics are solid and add to the foundation of the track and the voice work blends perfectly with the live action.

Warner continues to offer a two-disc set for its new releases and this one includes both a digital copy for your portable device plus the standard DVD presentation of the film. You also get an animated short based on another one of Sendak’s tales that is a bit bizarre but wonderfully produced. Some small behind the scenes snippets are included that provide some laughs and a HBO behind the scenes is also included.

I really enjoyed this film. It is brave in its themes and the imagery is incredible. I just don’t think it is a film for kids though, which is how it was advertised (and still is). While I think they would love the look of the film, the themes would probably go right over them. Still, I can’t imagine not adding it to the library.