Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Max (Max Records) is a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are. He lands on an island and meets a group of strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. When Max is crowned king of their land he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy but this proves to be more complicated than he originally thought.

Based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are takes a short story and stretches it out in order to create a coherent screenplay. Writer/director Spike Joneze and co-writer Dave Eggers do a better job than say The Cat in the Hat but it's not as polished as The Polar Express. Granted, those are completely different genres with Wild Things being more serious dealing with many interdependent relationships and how Max's home life has affected his psyche.

Video Highlights

• VC-1/1080p encode on a BD-50 disc
• Earth tone dominated color palette
• Excelling find detail, especially in the creatures fur
• Longer shots are somewhat soft but close-ups fare better
• Inconsistent black level from scene-to-scene
• Occasional banding

Audio Highlights

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack
• Very engaging, active, and room-encompassing track
• Strong LFE presence
• Intelligible dialog

Bonus Materials

• "Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More to Life" short film (HD)
• HBO First Look (HD)
• Maurice and Spike (HD)
• The Records family (HD)
• Carter Burwell (HD)
• The Absurd Difficulty of Filming a Dog (HD)
• The Big Prank (HD)
• The Kids Take Over the Picture (HD)
• Vampire Attack (HD)
• Includes DVD and digital copy of film

I've never been a huge fan of the short story and my kids always preferred to read "Little Bear," but I think the writers did an admirable job at adapting the story. There are some moments that will surely scare the younger audience members so parents should probably preview the film before the younglings grab a bucket full of popcorn and settle down on the couch. Give it a rent.

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Release Date: March 2, 2010
Studio: Warner

Movie: 6/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 9/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Panamax M5400PM power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics