Movies Seen in 2010: 1 - or, Brian comes out of Where the Wild Things Are slightly confused

apologies in advance. This is a bit stream of consciousness.

Ang and I ran over to the discount theater to see Where the Wild Things Are this afternoon. I know it's something we should have seen earlier this fall but often, for whatever reason, if I don't see something right away it ends up either not being watched in the theater or we catch up with it at the discount theater. Sometimes, if the movie in question doesn't happen to be anything high profile, this extra time period before catching a flick neither helps nor hinders my appreciation for the film but sometimes films are better fresh... without a lot of outside opinion... experienced on their own merits. I think that WTWTA might be one of those movies.

If I had been able to go in to the film fresh I might not have heard from friends that they could really relate to the story or that it's very episodic. I wouldn't have had the rave reviews from other friends and internet film columnists in my head. Going in fresh and not thinking about other peoples opinions, combined with seeing it in a theater that doesn't have cell phones and crying babies and a dim projector, would have probably helped everything. The sad thing is that while that would have helped, I don't think I would have loved the film much more than I did. I think I would have still been left with that underwhelmed feeling I left the theater with. Annoyed at how songs took me out of the movie. Annoyed at plot point that felt very slight but were exploded out into major narrative threads... and annoyed at the photos I've seen of hipsters wearing Max's outfit in the movie.

There were elements I loved. James Gandolfini does a great job voicing Carol. The creatures are amazing. Jim Henson's Creature Shop did a brilliant job. But, in the end, I'm underwhelmed. I'm a little sad. I really wanted to love it. I think it will be remembered for the visuals it created and I think it will be a good tool for (slightly older) kids who are having those issues to begin to unpack their inner turmoil but I can't put this on my best of 2009 list and that disappoints me.