Where the Wild Things Are

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (2009) - Mar. 2, 2010
A kind of bizarre film about a kid who finds himself in a strange land (where it's apparently always either dawn or dusk) inhabited by talking monsters.  I have to hand it to Spike Jonze and cinematographer Lance Acord -- this is a visually stunning film.  I have to assume that this is much (if not all) of the reason why this was critically acclaimed, as it otherwise really doesn't add up to much.  It's kind of uneventful, like a low-key indie movie that happens to have monsters in it.  It doesn't help that none of the characters are particularly well developed or likable -- this movie is co-written by Dave Eggers, who (not coincidentally, I'm sure) also co-wrote Away We Go, the recent king of low-key, plotless movies with unlikable characters.  It kind of blows my mind that a big studio greenlit this as a children's film -- not that I'm against studios taking chances, but they rarely do, and this is about as far from a traditional children's movie as you can get.  **