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Where the Wild Things Are: The Wild Rumpus Edition

posted on the blurb+review page:

I was spoiled by viewing njvc's version before the theatrical cut, and comparing the two is like asking which one gives off more warmth, a campfire or a match?

njvc finds the film's poetry and removes the semiwet concrete in which it's encased. Here, the protagonist is less of a brat, and that works better. The original soundtrack was serviceable, but njvc's sonic selections drew me more deeply into the movie.

And the intercutting between the real and the fantastic was inspired. The original kept the fantasy world tucked away from the introduction, as if the fantasy were a reward the audience had to wait for, according to some worn code of ritual. But njvc mercifully throws us into max's dreamspace without unnecessary ado.

This version has greater brightness in the nocturnal scenes, and that's for the better. Some of the lackluster dialogue remains, but that's not njvc's fault; enough was removed to elevate what was left.

Bravo, njvc. 10/10.
 
some add'l observations about the theatrical cut: massive amounts of filler dialogue. "yeah, that was great." "wasn't that great?" and so on.

not surprising, since the screenplay was partly written by david eggers. read his heartbreaking work of staggering genius several years back and was distinctly unimpressed.

high-five again to njvc for uncovering the good in this film.
 
Ssj, thank you for watching and reviewing the film. Very interesting to hear your perspective having seen them in the reverse order (fanedit before original). I agree totally about the filler dialogue. To me the film's great strengths are the imagery, design work, and Max himself. His performance in the 'silent' moments is astounding, so once you remove some of the filler, the good stuff is not too hard to find. Also very pleased to hear you liked the soundtrack. Incidentally, I saw Bon Iver live last night and he played both tracks I included in the edit. Was great to hear them live!
 
it's probably better that i saw them in that order. if i hadn't, i probably wouldn't have wanted to give a Wild Things fanedit a chance. :oops:
 
This girl must have seen The Wild Rumpus Edition:

wild-things-tattoo.jpg


Or maybe it's nj's wife....?
 
well she does have red hair...I'll have to check tonight, in case she ran off and got this done today! (kinda cool actually!)
 
This will be njvc's first fanedit stalker.
 
njvc,

Just had to write a quick review of this edit. I liked the original film a lot but this edit takes it from 4/5 to flat-out 5/5 classic. Seriously, for anyone who even remotely enjoyed WTWTA, this is a gigantic treat. I guess it also helps that the music you chose is exactly the stuff I'm into (Wake Up in particular, my favourite Arcade Fire song, just kills in the way you used it).

I don't usually write reviews... frankly because I'm lazy, but for anyone who hasn't seen this yet you need to download it. You'll love it. Guaranteed.

I'd definitely rank this alongside Adywan's ANH and TMBTM's War of the Stars as the best fanedits I've seen. Congratulations on creating a great edit.
 
So I bought and watched the theatrical WTWA based on all the good feedback this edit was receiving. I watched it this past weekend. I thought it was decent. Although I did feel it was a little long (even though it was only in the 1 hour and 40 minute range).

Enter The Wild Rumpus Edition. I only watched the edit portion of the dvd, so when i go back and watch the special features I may have to edit this post. I just finished watching the edit, and this is one of the few times where I knew what to expect going into the edit. Usually I like to watch an edit without knowing the changes made, but I already knew before watching this that there was going to be knew music added, and that in this version Max would be making multiple "trips" to the place where the wild things are.

This "multiple trip" way of telling story worked great. I think this aspect of the edit (along with the reduced runtime) made it more enjoyable for me. As far as the new music that was added - rescoring and/or adding music is always a risk. Its hit or miss. It's one of those things that IMO really has to "fit" in order to work. Well njvc definitely picked music that works. None of the extra music he chose to use felt odd or out of place, to me it all felt natural and fit the tone of the movie.
I really enjoyed the scene it ended on. Very nice choice.

As far as editing goes, technically it seemed fine. I noticed no problems with the audio or video.

I give this edit a 10/10 and I definitely find this version to be more enjoyable than the theatrical version (which is something I rarely say about a fanedit - there are fanedits that have been equal to the theatrical but rarely for me more enjoyable. This is one of those times though). I'm very stingey with my 10/10s (i think i've only rated 2 fanedits 10/10) but this is very deserving of the score. Great work!

I'm really looking forward to Pulp Empire and am avoiding the In the Works thread like the plague as I don't want to read/watch spoilers!
 
Thanks Gatos, great to hear you enjoyed it so much :) Unfortunately pulp empire has hit a snag as of this moment... hopefully it will be ok, but file may have become corrupted... fingers crossed.
 
Finally put together a review (it was about time, I know... :-D). Here it goes, and also to the main page of the edit:

I watched the theatrical Where the Wild Things Are back in the day, without knowing much about the book it was based on (must be popular in English-speaking countries only). I found the movie nice to look at but weak as cinema, narratively pretty much the equivalent of spending a couple of hours in the park watching kids at play, and not much else. A particular let down coming from Spike Jonze, having enjoyed his previous stuff.

When njvc announced his edit, the concept intrigued me, and I checked out the book in preparation. I must say the book won me over from the start, it's pure charm and feels a lot like what being a kid was all about for me back then. Also, I thought the Max in the book was a real kid, while movie Max was a Hollywood kid (nothing against the actor, he performed very well for a child, it's just the way the character was written). I got also shocked that they didn't use for the movie what I thought was the most cinematic image in the book: the forest growing in Max's bedroom. I would have expected its inclusion to be assured.

Then I got to the Wild Rumpus edition. How did I feel about it, particularly considering that the Max in the edit is even less like its book counterpart than the Max in the theatrical version?

Pure and simple, I loved every second of it. It's one of the most beautiful fanedits I've ever seen. Or dare I say, the most beautiful.

And Max manages to be more like in the book by being less like in the book. That is, the theatrical release tried to have it both ways by having the kid naughty as in the book yet at the same time quiet and sensitive. The edit focuses on the quiet and sensitive aspect, thus allowing the character to grow its own personality and not seem indecisive about how he's supposed to be. Another thing I loved was the fact that it goes back and forth between the real world and the wild things world in Max's imagination. The way the book is written, albeit linear, leaves clear that it's all part of Max's imagination, while the theatrical release is somewhat ambiguous about it. The edit fixes that and helps follow Max's visits to the wild things as his way to "escape" his reality.

Then there's the music, which is perfect. The generic original score is discarded in favor of a brilliantly selected collection of indie songs, all of which fit each scene to a T. Kudos to njvc's musical sensibilities.

The technical stuff is also consistently good, video and audio are fine and editing looks totally professional, with no hard cuts or bad mixes to speak of. Extra features include a nice audio commentary, an overview of the deleted stuff, trailers, and a short storybook version edit that is worth the download alone.

Plain and simple, one of the best edits of the year. 10/10.
 
Dwight, thanks for watching the movie and writing that pretty amazing review. Interesting about Max being "more like in the book by being less like in the book". I hadn't really intended that, but am pleased that you think so. A few other members commented on this as well... I guess simplifying the film automatically draws it more inline with a simple (albeit awesome) book. Pleasing to hear you enjoyed the music choices too, although I certainly wouldn't call the original sountrack generic. It's quirky and interesting, but just not what I personally wanted to hear. Anyway, cheers for taking the time :tea:
 
Been trying to download this, but it appears to be offline. Any ideas how I might be able to get a hold of it?
 
Hi MrGone, my mediafire account was disassembled. At the moment the files are offline, but this may change in the future. Thanks for the interest
 
njvc said:
Hi MrGone, my mediafire account was disassembled. At the moment the files are offline, but this may change in the future. Thanks for the interest
Click to expand...


Thanks for getting back to me. Well, I'll keep an eye out then and hopefully I'll be able to see it one of thse days. Sounds awesome.
 
I've still got the original files, so I'll reupload them soon. Not sure where yet, but probably newsgroups I suppose. I'll keep you posted
 
Just for the record, I'm interested too :) I'll keep on the lookout for a usenet upload. Thanks!
 
I second the sentiment. Having grown up with the books, been disappointed with the theatrical, and then reading the reviews here, I must say that your take on this has been the most highly anticipated edit for me. I look forward to when this is available again.
 
dvd version has been reuploaded. PM me for details :)
 
.dlc and .nzb for the dvd version have been submitted to the official place. Should be available shortly.

The Mediafire version is password protected. PM me if you need assistance.
 
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