"Where the Wild Things Are" Trailer is Up

And page 8 is finished. So close to the end.

Anyway, The trailer is up finally for Spike Jonze' upcoming adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book "Where the Wild Things Are." Here's another instance of a trailer's song perfectly suited to the visuals, Arcade Fire's brilliant "Wake Up" playing over some striking imagery. (The trailer houses right cranking some of these trailers out right now are, I think, creating consistently brilliant film art. I know in reality these guys are just re-using what other artists have created, but the trick of distilling a 2-hour film down into a minute and a half and, on occasion, evoking an emotional response sometimes more powerful than the film itself is able to, is a real feat.)

The way through the creative thicket has been torturous for Jonze and this film. Early test screenings haven't gone very well, audiences complaining the child isn't sympathetic for instance. I'll be interested to see if Jonze has managed to craft a winning film out of what some had written off as an unsalvageable mess.

The trailer shows clearly that they've managed to do a lot with what is, at heart, a short children's picture book long on imagery and short on plot or incident. And as trailer's go, it's very well done. But I'm not racing out the door to buy tickets for this one based on this. It seems like it might be one of those muddled movies that doesn't know if it's for kids or adults and ends up aiming for some muddy middle ground that alienates both audiences. And with rare exceptions, movies that have this difficult a time getting from the first day of shooting to theaters rarely turn out to be successful films. But I'll keep my fingers crossed.