Where the Adaptations Are

We've been talking a lot about this trailer lately, as it relates to one of my absolute favorite childhood books:

I know a lot of people have been concerned that Spike Jonze is straying from the original Sendak book or making it too dark or something. I think the initial studio response to optioning the rights was to make a "kids' movie," but to Warner Bros.' credit they picked a director with some real vision. The moment the decided to execute this as a live action film, they pretty much limited their ability to make a "true" adaptation of the book.

I am of the opinion that scene-for-scene adaptations of visual material almost always fail. I think of "Watchmen" as the most recent example. Alan Moore, the author, has always said that his graphic novel was unfilm-able. Thanks to modern technology, however, Zack Snyder took on the challenge. But something happened on the way: in an attempt to be as close, shot-for-shot, to the source material as possible, he set himself up for failure.


The makers of "Watchmen" stressed that they were staying as close to the source material as possible, exciting fanboys everywhere with the original trailer. But, as it is nearly impossible to satisfy everyone, people began to grumble when the producers/director failed to live up to that promise. Then, following a major change to the end, there was an outbreak of complaining. Reviews of the movie mainly saw it as a tedious attempt to put the graphic novel on screen (a heroic effort I think), which lost all of the deeper subtext of the novel. In the end, I think Snyder would have been better off layering his own vision on top of the source material, rather than copying it exactly (maybe he has no vision of his own, considering his other big movie was "300").

I guess, for me, I'm excited to see Jonze's movie. The trailer is awesome (amazing acoustic version of Arcade Fire's "Wake Up"). Maybe some kids will go running out of the theater scared and crying. At the same time, however, maybe this version will lure in all of the 15 to 35 year olds who wouldn't otherwise be interested in a kids' movie (unless they have kids of their own), but love the idea of seeing one of their favorite books from childhood up on the screen.

Or maybe, just maybe, it will suck. I sure hope not.