The excellent new trailer has been released for
Where the Wild Things Are, the forthcoming Spike Jonze-directed adaptation of the much-loved Maurice Sendak children’s book, originally published in 1963. Exhibiting continuity from the shorter trailer released earlier this year through the redeployment of Arcade Fire’s
Wake Up on the soundtrack, the new version gives much greater exposure and screen time to the titular Wild Things, led by the James Gandolfini-voiced Carol.
Scheduled for general release in the US on 16 October and in the UK on 11 December,
Where the Wild Things Are represents Spike Jonze’s first foray into feature directing since 2002’s
Adaptation, and also the first occasion on which he has not relied on long-time collaborator Charlie Kaufman for the screenplay (the task of helping Jonze adapt and flesh out Sendak’s book instead falling to McSweeney’s-founder Dave Eggers). And having given up the chance to wield the megaphone on Kaufman’s
Synecdoche, New York in favour of tackling
Wild Things, Jonze’s choice would appear to be vindicated by a trailer which strongly suggests he has succeeded in breathing evocative cinematic life into the source material. The Jonze vision of
Where the Wild Things Are does not represent the first attempt at delivering a movie take on Sendak’s brainchild, with John Lasseter having famously been involved with a proposed adaptation at Disney in the 1980s which would have combined traditional hand-drawn animation with nascent CGI technology. However, Lasseter’s version failed to progress beyond the testing stage.
The new trailer indicates fulfilment of the promise offered by the marriage between Sendak’s book and Jonze as director. The Wild Things themselves have a pleasingly tactile, slightly Muppet-esque quality - despite all the visual effects razzmatazz being used to send them hurtling around like errant nine-pins - and the indications are that Jonze and Eggers will be emphasising the emotional links between Max’s (played by Max Records) home life with mother Connie (Catherine Keener) and the fantasy playground into which he escapes with his furry new friends.
Indeed, I would go as far to suggest that
Where the Wild Things Are has now provided us with the most exciting new movie trailer since the Coen Brothers’
A Serious Man (yes, I know that only came out a week ago but it’s still a compliment, of sorts)
Sources:
Total Film 
February 19, 2008, 08:39:11 AM
