What’s a hipster like Spike Jonze directing a beloved children’s story like “Where the Wild Things Are?”
We’ll find out Friday, when the oft-delayed project finally hits the big screen.
The results will likely be different than your standard kiddie fare – think “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” or even the “Ice Age” films.
Perhaps the trickiest feat a filmmaker can pull off is creating a film that captivates the young ones – and does the same for adults. It’s what makes most Pixar films so wonderful.
But films like “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo” are the exception, to say the least.
As a boy, some of my favorite films included “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “March of the Wooden Soldiers.” I still watch all three today and get plenty of entertainment from them.
But parents today must endure sugary films with dumbed-down messages and lazy slapstick designed to tickle young minds … and young minds alone.
I long for the time when I can watch films like “The Wizard of Oz” with my now-nine month old son, but I’m also dreading the dreck I’ll have to endure with him far away from the Yellow Brick Road.
(Photo: Catherine O’Hara as Judith and Forest Whitaker as Ira in Warner Bros. Pictures’, Legendary Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ adventure film “Where the Wild Things Are,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Even though this is one of my six year old son’s favorite books he absolutely does not want to see it – mainly because the real-life version of the monsters are scary. I’m relieved. As so many of the recent movies from children’s books have shown us, there’s beauty in a short, simple story that can only be destroyed when rewritten to make a long movie. The only kid’s movies I can count on being worth watching are from Pixar, since the stories are as good as the animation (and none of those hideous pop-culture referencing jokes for grown-ups, wink wink – gag!).
I am forever amazed that the funniest woman on the face of the earth is actually cute as well, so I am fairly sure that isn’t Catherine O’Hara.
OK, this was my favorite book as kid. It blows me away how fantastic the trailers look. If you go on Apple there is a fool length trailer which perfect, I think the song in the background is brilliant. This will be welcomed change from all the cartoonish kid flicks, looking forward to seeing it…NOT on opening weekend though!