After weeks of hype and excitement, I went to see WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE this past friday. The verdict? Eh... sincere, ambitious but ultimately falling a little flat. Spike Jonze and his team did a solid job of building the imaginary world of WILD THINGS from the inside out using a logic and sense of honesty that feels like it germinated from the mind of a 10-year-old boy. The nuances to decisions and games played by protaganist, Max, and his furry friends are bound to muster up some long-forgotten memories from childhood. Details like deciding who's gonna play the good guys and the bad guys brings up plenty of old memories (I remember getting punched in the nose when I refused to play the bad guy). Those very details are intended to be understood from a multitude of perspectives. On one hand, Max acts out with little to no awareness of his deeper motivations. On the other, as observer, the audience gets to analyze the different scenarios in an attempt to better understand Max and (hopefully) themselves. It's an interesting experience... and one I'd be very interested to reexperience with a child (will a child enjoy this movie?). But, as an adult, the experience feels far more elusive than I anticipated. Each WILD THING simultaneously represents emotional states and important people in Max's life. The symbolism often feels jumbled and inconclusive. Based on the ho-hum dialogue and the informal performances, it's evident that the confusion a child experiences in making sense of our inconsistent world is integral to the film's identity. I admire the boldness in choosing this form of ambivalence but wish I was given a little more direction. The creatures feel alive. The combination of costumes and CGI faces brings the creatures to life. I was a little disappointed that the world which surrounds them wasn't given the same level of attention (it looks like a slightly spooky camping trip). Overall, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is a sincere bit of film that does exactly what it intends to. I'm just not entirely sure I'm in love with what it accomplishes.

I'm super looking forward to the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE film opening tonight. I'm a huge Spike Jonze fan. It seems like forever since we've seen something from him. I'm also a big fan of the immaculately designed monsters from the Wild Things children's book. I'm probably in the minority of kids that never owned a copy of the book... but I remember being captivated by the illustrations whenever I'd see it's oversized spine sticking out of a stack of children's book at the school library. I wasn't much of a children's book reader. But there was something very magical in those drawings that resonated with me from an early age.

Obviously, the book has resonated with kids and creative types for generations. I wanted to create an informal hub of many of the more interesting interpretations of Maurice Sendak's wonderful world of Wild Things:

CLICK HERE for a collection of large image files of Maurice Sendak's WILD THINGS illustrations on the Monster Brain Blog.

CLICK HERE for Vice's wonderful WILD THINGS blog with 24 artists interpretations (the Rege Jr and Harkham art below comes from here).

CLICK HERE for a look at McFarlane Toys beautiful WILD THINGS action figures from 2000.

CLICK HERE for Newsweek WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE interview with Author/Illustrator Maurice Sendak, Director Spike Jonze, and screenplay co-writer Dave Eggers.

CLICK HERE for an in depth NY Times interview with director Spike Jonze regarding the creative process behind the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE film.

1983 John Lasseter Disney WILD THINGS ARE computer animation test:

WILD THINGS ARE 1973 Gene Deitch animated short:

I'm super excited that active development is happening on the MACHETE film starring Danny Trejo and co-directed by Robert Rodriguez. Apparently, plans are for the film to be released in April 2010. I first became aware of Danny Trejo uber-badassery in his silent role as Navajas in DESPERADO. Although his role in Desperado was a small one, Trejo steals his scenes with Antonio Banderas. I was actually sad when we last see Trejo in Desperado. As cool as he was, there seemed to be tons of potential in the knife-wielding Mexican.

Fortunately, Rodriguez and company thought the same! Navajas (the name of a Spanish folding knife) may be dead but Danny Trejo lives on as MACHETE! This new take of Danny Trejo as a knife-throwing tough guy debuted in the hilarious trailer of GRINDHOUSE (the PLANET TERROR and DEATH PROOF theatrical co-feature). I've included the trailer below. The official film version of Machete is looking mighty interesting with a cast that includes Robert Deniro, Steven Seagal, and Don Johnson.

An indirect sidenote: Danny Trejo's knife-named characters live on in the upcoming PREDATORS (co-written by Robert Rodriguez). In Predators, Danny Trejo stars as Cuchillo (the spanish word for 'knife'). I guess my wishes have been answered multiple times! Life is good.

MACHETE TRAILER FROM GRINDHOUSE:

It's been many, many years since Daniel Zana interviewed Jerry and me for his Vinyl Frontier documentary. At the time, Mr. Zana was living on the West Coast and preparing for his move to New York. Red Demon Original had just been released. We gave him a rare glimpse at the many wonderful versions of Red Demon and Mini Gobi we had been preparing to unveil to the inquiring public. Since then, Red Demon was released. Mini Gobis were released. Dr. Destruction was released. Pretty much, life went on... but we (along with the many wonderful designer toy peeps that had been interviewed) were casually curious to see if Zana was fiddling away on his documentary film rather than being whisked away by the grand city of New York.

I am glad to see that the film has not been forgotten. Daniel revealed a 12 minute preview of the film of which Muttpop Bob (me) has a bit part. It's a younger (and I'd like to think less handsome version) than my current self... but it's cool to be seen alongside some of the Designer Toy greats! You can see me ruminating about the Designer Toy scene at the 4:33 mark and 11:23 mark. Jerry was also filmed for the documentary... hopefully there'll be some of him in the final cut of the film.

The Vinyl Frontier Sneak Peek SDCC09 Exclusive from The Vinyl Frontier on Vimeo.

Muttpop fan, PoonDockTaint, kindly pointed out to us that our Red Demon figure is prominently shown in the Red Band trailer for Judd Apatow's FUNNY PEOPLE film. Apatow is the director of comedy classics 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP and producer of SUPERBAD, ANCHORMAN, and STEP BROTHERS. Beyond having a knack for comedy, he (or, at least his set designers) have an excellent taste in toys! Why else would they have a Red Demon Original figure prominently displayed on the window sill in Seth Rogen's room? ;-)

Red Demon would like to thank Seth Rogen for sharing some screen time with him. Red Demon's a little annoyed that most of his time on screen had him a out of focus... but he understands that the Director didn't want Red Demon's devilishly handsome face to distract people from Rogen's heartfelt performance.

Red Demon makes his appearance at around the 1:19 mark of the trailer: