Weekend Movie Forecast: Where the Wild Things Are or Black Dynamite

As you may have noticed, this weekend marks the release of Spike Jonze's film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic Where the Wild Things Are. We caught an advance screening earlier this month, and the more we think about it, the more we appreciate Jonze's film. This is one that grows on you. Previously, we wrote, "Audience members who walk into the movie unaware of the book's skimpy narrative are excused for feeling a little let down. But is there anyone who didn't fall for Where the Wild Things Are as a child? The book casts a hell of a spell, and Jonze and Eggers miraculously succeed in recreating its elusive essence. Let's put it this way: This is a movie that makes you want to call your mother, and that's not something you can say about most studio pictures. Not even Dr. Dolittle 2.

"Ultimately, Where the Wild Things Are stays interesting, despite its subdued narrative arc, because it's an unabashedly heartfelt meditation on the primal emotions that overwhelm us in childhood. It floats along on the strength of its raw sincerity and sharp wits, and if at times it verges on sentimentality, the sentiment is not unearned. It's rare for a big-budget movie to dare to be this melancholy without any bullshit, cloying contrivances."