More of a yawn than a yay
When I first saw the trailer of WTWA, I was won over by Arcade Fire’s song “Wake up”. Even though I had never actually read the children’s book by Maurice Sendiak, I was so excited to see the film version of this all-time favorite. Who knew I could get so agitated by a boy bouncing around in an old wolf costume with his imaginary friends. Convinced it would be a feel-good movie, I dragged my two brothers to the cinema. The film started well as we feel sorry for lonely 9 year old Max, who doesn’t seem to fit in. One night, the little boy gets seriously angry when his mum who’s too busy with her boyfriend doesn’t come and see the fort that he has built in his room. They get into a fight and Max runs away. He wanders in the streets, finds a boat out of nowhere and sails away to his own imaginary world. A world full of bizarre creatures who at first seek to eat him. Fortunately, Max persuades them that he is in fact their new king and instead of ending his life, they should “let the wild rumpus begin!” He promises to rule the kingdom and to make everyone happy.
The rest of the film is a bit slow as we just witness how Max tries to be king in such a chaotic world. The creatures, who are emotionally wild, start disagreeing with each other, which leads to a big fight between the boy and one of the creatures, Carol. Max therefore decides to go home and at the end, he eventually makes up with Carol. He returns to his house where his mum feeds him dinner. The end. My verdict? The film could have been better. Much, much better. Even though I appreciated the hidden meanings and metaphors of the story, I must insist upon the slow pace of it. Just thirty minutes into the film, my brother on my right was already fast asleep and slightly snoring. On my left side, my other brother was ironically giving me the thumbs up. “Thank you for taking us, this was such a good idea. Not”. In my view, the only elements that “saved” the film from being a disaster were:
a. The amazing soundtrack. Karen O (the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the Kids deliver an outstanding set list of songs, which gives this monotonous movie a bit of edge.
Best songs include: All is Love, Hideaway, Worried Shoes and Heads up.
b. Max Records, aka Max, who reminds me of a young Macaulay Culkin. His performance is very convincing, you just want to give him a hug and also buy a lama jumper (they are very cool!). Haha. How can such a small person have so much energy? People, be sure to watch out for this new rising star!
c. The dog-chasing scene. Probably the only wild thing in the movie. The scene was so intense and violent that we were really under the impression that we, the spectators, were actually chasing the dog.
2 out of 5 munchkins
No comments:
Post a Comment