Where the Wild Things Are

In 1963 Maurice Sendak, writer and illustrator of children's literature, wrote his masterpiece Where the Wild Things Are. It went on to win numerous awards and soon became an American classic, us Belgians on the other hand, have never encountered mischievous Max and the Wild Things which is a downright tragedy.

The story revolves around a naughty boy in a wolf costume named Max, who is sent to bed without dinner. Suddenly his room turns into a forest, bordering on the ocean. Max gets in a boat and sails off. He ends up in the land of the Wild Things, strange fanged monsters with big sharp claws. Max however, is not impressed and is able to tame these ferocious creatures by staring into their eyes without blinking. In utter awe of this little lad's peculiar power, they decide to make him king. Several adventures later, he decides to leave this magical world because he smells a lovely meal. The Wild Things are hesitant to let their king go but Max sails off into the sunset. Back home, dinner turns out to be ready.

The story is very sweet, innocent and filled with amazing drawings of mythical creatures that are oddly love-able despite their fierce faces. Where the Wild Things Are is only ten sentences long but contains all the right words to make this a quick and cosy afternoon delight.

Soon enough this story will conquer the world, aided by the film adaptation that was directed by (a personal favorite) Spike Jonze. I absolutely loved his surreal and offbeat Being John Malkovich and the hallucinatory and hilarious Adaptation, although Charlie Kaufman's writing had probably something to do with that. Although Jonze has a quintessentially explosive visual flair, his movies are few and far between. He spends most of his time directing music videos or compilations but seven years after his last cinematic venture, he's back and wackier not to mention furrier that ever.

Where the Wild things Are, based on Sendek's ten tantalising sentences, was written together with Dave Eggers. They naturally made the story a tad more elaborate but stayed true to it's unique atmosphere. It will also be Jonze's first trip down screenplay lane. Fluffy critters may be something completely different for Jonze who is used to psychedelic montages and the quirks of contemporary life but still, this "family" film full of strange characters, gives him another opportunity to explore the immense scope of his imagination.