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PHILIP BARRETT: What’s ironic about Where the Wild Things Are happens to involve a conversation I had with fellow critic Anders Wright of San Diego’s City Beat before the film. I kindly asked him what his expectations for the film where. “You know, Philip,” he said, “I’ve learned not to set the bar too high or too low for anything to avoid being disappointed.” After Spike Jonze’s latest venture ended, I started to wish I’d listen to him. While an admirable effort, Where the Wild Things Are is missing something that makes it worthy of the pre-buzz it received.

MATTHEW SNIDER: My expectations were set so high on this film to begin with, nothing could of met them. I wanted something to change the way I viewed the world around me, the way I relived my childhood from time to time. The movie flopped, ONLY due to my expectations being so high. As Philip said, I should of gone in with a set of lower expectations and been suprised, rather than wanting to say 7 out of 5 and in reality being disappointed. While the movie was somethings pecial, it was missing a few key things to make it exceptional. But how does one take 10 sentences of a children’s book and stretch it into a 91 minute movie without missing something?

PHILIP: And that’s the thing, they do honor the book well. This isn’t a cheaply made cash-in, in fact you can tell there’s a lot of love going on here. The heart is in the right place, but there’s something missing. Is it boring like some have claimed? I wouldn’t say that, but the film does drag and follows it’s own structure. Again, that’s fine but it offsets the pacing of the entire film. Yet that’s not my biggest complaint. There’s something else at work that’s really keeping me from proclaiming “BEST MOVIE EVAAAAR!!!***!!!!”

MATTHEW: The pacing is my biggest issue. Minus the last twenty minutes, I was wanting more. I wanted more from the film based on the beloved book. I wanted this film to become a beloved film based on a beloved book. This is not the case in my eyes. This movie IS something special, the Wild Things are an awesome feat from Jonez. But the story lacks what the Wild Things bring. The portion of the story NOT surrounding the Wild Things is dull and lacking any substance. The portion of the film with the Wild Things drags on in what they are trying to accomplish with Max as the king.
Sitting here I have no idea how to fix a 91 minute movie and its pacing, but that is my biggest issue. I wanted to leave the theater asking for more, but was ready to leave when it was over.

Mind you what was in front of us IS something special. The Wild Things are done very very well and they jump to life right from the pages of the book. The directing, the cinematography, the sets/locations are all done very very well. It’s only downfall is the pacing. Something I can’t see a fix for.

PHILIP: It’s certainly one I’ll come back to in IMAX (and eventually Blu-ray) because the story is there. Ironically, the film could have shaved off a few minutes and maybe the pacing would have been fixed. Yes it would have brought the runtime down to around 85-88 mintues but great films don’t need to be six and a half hours if they’re told right. I disagree with Matthew and say that the portions before the Wild Things help to build Max’s character and his relationship with his mother and sister. In fact, it’s touching yet heart-breaking to see Max destroy his sister’s room and break something he made her. It also doesn’t hurt that Max Records is absolutely perfect as a kid trying to find his place in life.

MATTHEW: Blu-ray will be a must purchase for me. I honestly will need to see this movie a few more times before a final verdict is put in. I have had issue from the start of the movie till now on what I wanted to say about the movie and it still is odd for me to make decisions on only seeing it once.

I do agree that the story of max and his family issues is necessary, I thought it was jumpy and sometimes strong and other times very week in actual story telling. The destroying of the Sister’s room was necessary and well done, but the story behind his costume, his outbursts, the way he treats his mother, the story behind the stories he tells and more could of been visited ever so breifly to round out the story more.

PHILIP: I actually feel they give us enough, as the themes of family continue one he gets to the island with the Wild Things. Afterall, all of the Wild Things are really an extension of Max, which is the right way to take Maurice Sendak’s story. As for the start of the film, I loved how it had writing over the studio cards as well as just a straight cut to “WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE” with a close-up on Max.

I also want to say that this isn’t a kids film, although kids may enjoy it. This is an adult film that has a kid as it’s leading character.

MATTHEW: Overall I would recommend this movie to most adults. No children at all. This ia deep, darker movie than what is portrayed via the trailers and even the TV Spots. This movie is somethings pecial in many ways, it just falls flat in some areas that may make it less appealing to more than the average moviegoer.
I look forward to seeing it again and hopefully admit I was wrong in some areas.

PHILIP: I still recommend the film to everyone as well. Reactions are all over the map which has to say something about what this film is. It’s an admirable effort no doubt, and there’s much that it’s going to mean. The film is shot incredibly well and I was really taken with the visual style and overall story. At the risk of hyperbole, don’t be surprised if Max Records receives an Oscar nod for his performance. Yet still, something was lost, be it the pacing or something that keeps this from being the ‘instant classic’ we all wanted it to be.

Philip’s Rating –