At the Movies

by Esther McCarthy

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CALL OF THE WILD

Fab fantasy lit up by new kid Max

MAGIC: Where The Wild Things AreWHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (PG) starstarstarstar

THE STARS: Max Records and Catherine Keener. Also featuring the voices of Forest Whitaker, James Gandolfini and Lauren Ambrose.

THE STORY: Unhappy at home, a young boy called Max escapes to another world inhabited by huge creatures, who crown him their king. But when the volatile creatures find out who Max really is, will he still belong?

ONE QUESTION kept springing to mind as I watched this innovative film ... "Who's that kid?"

That kid is Max Records, aged 12, in his first leading role.

The American youngster will surely be on the speed dial of casting agents thanks to a beautifully-natural performance in this movie.

He has that quality they can't teach you in drama class -- screen presence.

Emotional

POWERFUL: Sensitive Max is unsure of his place in the world and runs awayDirector Spike Jonze has collaborated with author Maurice Sendak -- who wrote the 1963 much-loved picture book on which the film is based -- to bring the story to the big screen.

While the story is slight enough on plot, it compensates with great characterisation and emotional build up.

You believe in and connect with this boy's journey -- no small feat when it involves hooking up with a bunch of enormous monsters.

The story centres on a young boy named Max, a sensitive child who's unsure of himself and his place in the world.

Max runs away and escapes to where the Wild Things are.

He lands on a distant island where he meets a group of mysterious and strange creatures (they initially consider eating him) who are all very different, with their own sensitivities, moods and reactions.

While he's never met anything as exotic as these cuddly-but-scary creatures, Max feels more at home in their company than he does in his own world.

That's despite being at first spooked by the ferocious Wild Things, who consider snacking on him before he tells them what they want to hear -- that he has been sent to rule and guide them.

Hopeful that this new arrival will bring happiness to their dissenting lives, the creatures embrace their young boy.

Conflict

But none of these characters is as they seem, and they all soon discover that ruling and abiding by a kingdom is not as straightforward as it seems.

Jonze -- whose other movies include Being John Malkovich and Adaptation -- has said that he wanted to make a film about childhood rather than merely a children's film.

He has also freely admitted that he frequently ran into conflict with movie studio Warner Bros, who were nervous about his somewhat artistic approach to this movie.

While younger children are likely to be entranced by the movie's imaginative world and kooky characters, older kids may be bored by the lack of car chases and explosions -- this is quite an arty movie, with lots of talk and very little action.

But the real appeal of this unusual film is in its pure simplicity.

And emotionally it should resonate with movie lovers of all ages with its central hero -- and many of the creatures he meets -- going on very personal journeys to overcome jealousy, alienation and uncertainty.

THE VERDICT:

Family audiences used to fast-moving blockbusters should proceed with caution. This is an emotional slowburner of a film with a dreamy message about the power of imagination. But those who fall in love with it will watch it again and again.

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