Jonze gets it right

I saw it Saturday - Where the Wild Things Are, that is - after reading Dave Eggers' deftly-handled novelization (which aligned very closely with the screenplay). The film was visually stunning, shot mostly in Australia (in and around Melbourne). Spike Jonze did an incredible job of allowing the viewer into the mindset of a 9 year old child, lending depth, pain and poetry to the adaptation of a much-loved classic. Karen O's score, the voices of James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, and Forest Whitaker, the ever-radiant Catherine Keener, and perhaps most of all, the raw talent of first-time actor Max Records (yes, he's really named Max), set Jonze's creation firmly in that most-difficult-to-enter of worlds: a successful print-to-screen adaptation.
Meet my own Wild Things - pumpkin cupcake monsters with cinnamon buttercream frosting.