Looking Forward to “Where the Wild Things Are”

Last updated on: February 28, 2013 at 4:28 pm by Jeffrey Overstreet

Looking Forward to “Where the Wild Things Are” 2013-02-28T16:28:29-07:00 Jeffrey Overstreet

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When I was a kid, one of my favorite storybooks was…

Wait, let me start again.

One of my favorite storybooks is Where the Wild Things Are. (Forget the part about “when I was a kid.” It’s still true. If a story is good, a reader will never “outgrow” it.)

But there is not nearly enough in Maurice Sendak’s surreal book to fill a feature film. Thus, I have felt apprehensive, even depressed, over the inevitability of a revised and embellished full-length movie version. After seeing Ron Howard distort and pollute Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I have a hard time believing short, simple children’s books can be successfully and meaningfully expanded into a 90 – 120 minute pageant.

Well, New York Magazine has just given me reason to hope.

Here’s their commentary on the screenplay for Where the Wild Things Are, which has been adapted by Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze.

We were deeply nervous about anyone taking on a story this beloved yet difficult, even talents like Eggers and Jonze, but this screenplay —if it hasn’t been changed too dramatically since October 2005, when it was turned in — goes a long way toward reassuring us that this movie, which is coming out in 2008, will be something special.

Here’s hoping that Jonze and Eggers have cooked up a heap of memorable mischief.

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