RvilleMB

I'm about as far from a "twenty-something hipster" as you can get, but my review of the movie was very similar.

This was my absolute #1 favorite book as a child. Every single teddy bear or stuffed animal I had as a child was named Max. I begged my mother for a wolf suit at around the age of 4. I have the original copy (crayon marks from my little brother and all) I was given as a tiny child. My mother even made sure that as early as I can remember... that I grasped what the point of the story was... Max was a bad boy and realized that being disciplined by his mother was actually what he needed to make him happy and that even when she had to discipline him, she still loved him.

The movie was beautiful. Watching it made me want to be Max all over again. Like the reviewer... I sat in my seat wanting to howl. The wild rumpus was great.

If I wanted to see an EXACT translation... I would've just re-watched the 7 minute film from 1973*. I understand that. However, it dragged a bit in the middle... actually QUITE a bit. I could've used more rumpus, less wandering plot stretches.

PROS:
Great looking
Great casting... Max is spot-on and the voices of the Wild Things are great
Some great additions... other "kings" in the past, the holes in the trees, Carol's imaginary land, direct personification of Max in the Wild Things
Some great lessons... the dirt clod fight, the hurting of feelings, how your actions affect others
Douglas losing an arm and replacing it with a stick... that is just the funniest, random thing
KW... just a great character
"MAX" being written on the boat, small... but it won me over.

CONS:
Max's mom sucks. Catherine Keener is one of those actresses who NAILS something or FAILS something. She fails here. The way the mom was written is mega-fail, as well.
KW's friends being owls... FAIL

THE BIGGEST CON OF ALL:
The book has 11 sentences... and the last scene of the movie RUINS the best one:
"...and into the night of his very own room, where he found his supper waiting for him and it was still hot."
BOOOOOOOO ON YOU SPIKE JONZE! BOOOOOOOO ON YOU.

*

http://www.youtube.com/v/fSkHA6IjrlY