ユリーカ『MIXED REVIEWS』

MIXED REVIEWS

BRIGHT and SHINE

GOOD MORNING

I was reading various MOVIE REVIEWS onlineで

以前もブログした、

"WHERE THW WILD THINGS ARE" がリリースされ、

REVIEWSでいっぱい

ユリーカchildren's bookの大ファンだから

かなり気になるわ

ふむふむ、lets see...

New York Post
Lou Lumenick

Some very good books were just never meant to be turned into movies. Sadly, you can now add Maurice Sendak ’s 1963 classic “Where the Wild Things Are” to that list.　（ほらほら、やっぱりね～～～）

Spike Jonze , the immensely imaginative director of “Being John Malkovich ” and “Adaptation,” has labored for many years with the best of intentions to turn Sendak’s slim volume, which contains only nine sentences of text over 37 pages, into a full-length feature.

On the plus side, he’s come up with a distinctive-looking, hand-hewn movie that goes a long way toward capturing the visual magic of Sendak’s drawings.（これは確かにすごいよね、preview見ただけでもI was like WOW HOW)

At the same time, in their overly earnest attempt to flesh Sendak’s story out to 100 minutes, Jonze and his co-screenwriter, novelist Dave Eggers , have laboriously spelled out motivations (divorce is bad!), elaborated back stories — and added reams of less-than-inspired dialogue. (ん～～、やっぱりchildren's bookをadapt and build on screenってなかなか無理あるよね、勝手な会話とかシーンたしたり。。。）

Unfortunately, they haven’t supplied any kind of plot that would keep an adult like myself (who didn’t grow up on the book) fully engaged.

And I really wonder how kids will respond to a talky, neurosis-driven movie (笑）that’s this light on action.

That would seem to leave an ideal audience of Williamsburg hipsters trying to get in touch with their inner childhoods.

Maybe they will like the insipid indie-rock soundtrack.

The film starts promisingly (and with minimal dialogue) with 9-year-old Max (an adept performer allegedly named Max Records) being attacked in his snow fort while his older sister fails to come to his rescue.

The feral Max trashes her room, and responds with even more rage when he catches his overwhelmed single mom (Catherine Keener ) snuggling with her boyfriend (the barely seen Mark Ruffalo ).

Max dons a white wolf suit and bites his shocked mother.

In Sendak's book, Mom puts Max (who is only 5) to bed and he begins his magical journey in his sleep.

Jonze has chosen to eschew animation (there is some subtle CGI) in favor of a more realistic approach, with an angry Max running off and sailing to a magical land (actually Australia).

There he encounters the Wild Things, which in this version are played by Henson puppeteers in 9-foot-high animatronic suits closely modeled on Sendak's drawings.

I have no quarrel with this approach so far. But the creatures are less Sendak's Wild Things than totally unscary Mild Things.

They sound very much like a commune of kvetchy old hippies who argue endlessly among themselves while committing random acts of childish pique. （このコメントLOL!!! 爆笑!!なんか想像つくよね。。!!）

The nominal leader of the pack, Carol, is ineffectual and self-doubting, so the Wild Things embrace Max's claim that he's a king. It's fun for a while, when Max joins them in throwing clods of dirt at each other. (Don't try this at home, kids.)

When the Wild Things resume their bickering, it's not only the audience who grows restless. Unfortunately, 90 minutes have elapsed before Max, like Dorothy before him, finally realizes "there's no place like home."

Among those providing voices for the Wild Things (not always in perfect sync with the puppets) are Catherine O'Hara , Forest Whitaker , Lauren Ambrose and Chris Cooper .

Carol is voiced by James Gandolfini , an unfortunate choice whose distinctive nasal New Jersey whine kept making me wonder if (hope that?) Tony Soprano was going to pop out of the costume and whack the somewhat annoying Max. （あははははは）

So, fuhgeddabout "Where the Wild Things Are"? No, but brace yourself for a noble failure.

なかなかのnegative comments

ま、こんな感じでしょうね～

って、

I had predetermined that the movie would stinkでしょ

でも実はほか多くのREVIEWSは

意外と全然最悪じゃなくてビックリ

Rolling Stone
Peter Travers

How to film the noise inside Max's head? The easy way would be to go the animation route. Not for Jonze. The director and his gifted team, including hand-held-camera master Lance Acord, traveled to rugged Australia and shot the action live with puppeteers inside nine-foot creature costumes.　（実際人間がぬいぐるみの衣装きて演技したんだね！すごい。笑）

Per tradition, the voice work was done by name actors. James Gandolfini excels as Carol, the creature leader who Max discovers tearing down his home right after he builds it. Like Max, Carol has commitment issues. Lauren Ambrose voices KW, the redheaded loner. Chris Cooper takes on the beaked Douglas. Catherine O'Hara puts the sass into Judith, who henpecks the loyal Ira (Forest Whitaker). And Paul Dano moans touchingly at being the shortest creature, the goat-horned Alexander.

That's where tradition ends. Instead of recording each actor singly in a sound booth, Jonze gathered them together, encouraging howling and rabble-rousing. The spontaneity is infectious. Computers were used to create facial expressions for the creatures, with the actors themselves as models.

For all the money spent, the film's success is best measured by its simplicity and the purity of its innovation. Jonze has filmed a fantasy as if it were absolutely real, allowing us to see the world as Max sees it, full of beauty and terror. The brilliant songs, by Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the Kids, enhance the film's power to pull you in as Max literally hides in the belly of a beast, builds a fort and issues a call to arms: "I know something that always cheers me up — a war."

Jonze never belabors points about violence or the Freudian nature of identity and rebellion. Whether Max's cheeks flush with euphoria or rage, our identification with him is complete. Jonze brings all the senses into play. You can practically feel the animal heat when homesick Max falls asleep in a "real pile" of snoozing wild things. But the creatures don't coddle Max, and the film follows suit. By staring without blinking into the yellow eyes of these wild things, Max begins to recognize something of himself. Jonze doesn't blink either. That's why this adaptation of Sendak's rigorously unsentimental story is a moving tribute to both their talents.

どんだけ～～～～

ほめまくりだね～～～