Is anyone else as ridiculously excited for this movie as I am? It's some odd combination of nostalgia, love for Spike Jonez, the fact that Karen O is doing the soundtrack, the Arcade Fire, the fact that the original author was so involved...

But mostly it's the trailer which, for my money, is one of the greatest trailers of all time:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/wherethewildthingsare/


Is it just me?

I'm with you. Favorite book when I was a child, and the trailer looks amazing.

never read the book. but the trailer sucked me right in.

Have you seen Bridge to Terabithia? I don't know, when I saw the preview I got a Bridge to Terabithia feeling which means there is a lot of fantasy in the preview, but not that much in the movie. I hope it doesn't end up like that.

By the way don't ever watch Bridge to Terabithia.

I have faith in Spike Jonze though, so I'm sure it will be good.

So, um, has anyone seen this movie?

I heard there was a key change from the book to the movie. In the book, the boy is in his room and the wild things are all in his imagination, but in the movie the boy runs away (to an actual area where the wild things are?).

Pre-post edit: Per IMDB, he literally gets in a boat and sails away to the land of the wild things. I don't like that change.

I've seen it. Max runs to a park, and then is suddenly on a fantastical boat. It was fairly straightforward to me that everything that follows is internal.

Ah, that's good, although still not ideal in my mind.

So did you like the movie? Did you have any particular affinity towards the book?

My favorite Sendak is In the Night Kitchen. That's the one I had in my house growing up, although I remember WtWTA, but not as fondly.

I liked the movie, strongly liked, but never took the step to loving it. I don't think this is a movie that can be spoiled, but I'll try to tread lightly.

The beginning sets up Max's life here, and you can understand why this 8 year old boy would want to make an internal journey. You also understand how difficult he can be to live with (just like real 8 year olds!)

After the boat ride, once the film really enters Max's world, this is where the film spends most of its time. The colors are muted, much like the book's art. This is where personal taste enters. I never doubted Max's world. The Wild Things, the imaginary world, yes almost all of it is not actual sets, but a combination. The visuals never made me step outside of the world. (This is a sticking point for me, I still yell at the screen at the last scenes from Titanic, with the phony, phony puffs of air symbolizing cold. Looks. Like. Crap.) Really, this world is uniformly beautiful and true.

I liked how Max(and his imaginary friends) played like a real little boy if they had no supervision. That is to say, they play hard, and people get hurt. For me, the story seems linear. What I see on the screen is all in Max's head. What the Wild Things say, those words are from Max, either directly, or things he has heard someone say. This makes sense to me, but the movie is asking me to enjoy listening to what's on a child's mind, for 90 minutes. Overall I found the story thin. I liked the movie, it was well made, etc. Another complaint I've heard--some people don't like the character of Max. If you don't like him, then you probably won't like the movie.

I forgot that I made this thread.

I liked the movie, and I really liked the book as a little kid.

The movie was very strange, very odd. There's almost no plot. It more or less consists of gaint muppets building things, breaking things, jumping around, and crying. It could see how many would think it slow and boring, but I found it pretty fascinating.

I'll probably have to see it again to determine of it was just the experience of seeing it for the first time that I enjoyed or if the film stands on its own merits.

But I loved the soundtrack by Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

I enjoyed it quite a bit.