Where The Wild Things Are: The Wild Rumpus Edition

When I first watched this movie I ended up getting bored, and kinda hated Max. Trimming this movie way back and restructuring it gave me so much more enjoyment. I absolutely love this version. Max is a lot more likeable, and I personally like the cut backs to the real world to show the parallels. I didn't have expectations of the indie music being in the movie from the trailers, but I'm so glad they were added in. I don't think I would have ever watched this movie again if not for this edit.

I highly enjoyed this edit!! I loved the musical choices and I really liked how the story was restructured to cut back and forth between the real world and wild world. The intro was great, and I liked the new ending as well!

This was a very professional looking edit and I think it's now my preferred version of this movie!

Excellent, when I was done watching this edit, I went and kissed both of my kids on the forehead as they slept. This was a truly beautiful movie and this edit took it to another level. The new soundtrack was amazing. This edit was great, and is a must watch.

March 23, 2012 @ 6:50 am

The problem with screening a pre-release of a movie is that it is really hard to get motivated to re-watch and post an official review. In this case it was a pleasure.

As one who can be quite critical of audio, I am pleased to report that the audio with headphones sounds near perfect on this final release. The audio track is not in surround, but that is ok. It is so music heavy that the surround is not missed.

The story and emotional beats are perfect. The way in which the original has been psychologically abstracted and re-scored is brilliant. Now instead of watching Max from a distance, we are inside of Max’s head and right there with him every step of the way. Everything about Wild Rumpus Edition feels original and fresh. This is what fanediting is all about.

As a movie, this is the kind of movie I absolutely love where I can talk about it for hours with friends or loved ones after it is over. There is so much here to think about, interpret, and talk about!

I was joking with NJVC recently that maybe this will be the fanedit that bridges the gap with the female gender?? Show it to your female friends, girlfriends, wives, & daughters. Make some popcorn, pop this edit in, and settle in with loved ones for a beautiful night.

Fanedit rating of 10/10.
(Fanedit rating focuses on technical and creative criteria that pertain specifically to the scope and depth of changes made from the source material by the faneditor. In other words, I might hate the movie but still give a high fanedit rating if I really respect the re-editing work done to it.)

Movie rating of 10/10.
(Movie rating judges on traditional criteria of quality/enjoyment as if this were an original theatrical release being seen for the first time.)

March 1, 2012 @ 8:53 pm

I haven’t seen the original (YET) so I can’t compare it to this edit, but I can say that this edit is one of THE BEST FANEDITS I have ever seen. The music is spot-on and the cutting between the real and wild world is perfect.

Technical quality – 10/10 – I was really anxious to see this, so I opted to DL the DVD first and once I get a chance to pick up some BD’s, I’ll watch the Blu-ray. But even on DVD, the video quality was gorgeous. I was listening to the audio on headphones, and it was very sharp.

Editing – 10/10 – I can’t even explain how well the addition of new songs and the nonlinear style of storytelling worked. njvc has pulled both of these off incredibly well. There were no hard cuts at all, and the whole movie seemed very streamlined and well paced.

Presentation – 10/10 – the menus were very nice and I’m glad njvc took the time to name the chapters – some editors avoid this. The extras were really great. I must admit that I did not listen to the entire commentary, as I had just watched the edit, but from what I saw it was very well thought out. The deleted scenes were very informative, as I have not seen the original, and helped me understand more the purpose behind this edit and how it was pulled off. Then there was a magnificent Storybook Edit that takes the narration of the book and combines it with clips from the movie. The original trailer is a nice addition as well, since it was the inspiration for the edit, and the nice collection of FE trailers was entertaining. Two great music videos are also included. All in all, I can say the menus and extras were very well designed indeed. I can also say that the cover art is top-notch (wink wink).

Entertainment – 10/10 – well, let’s start at the start. I was hooked from the very beginning. The opening sequence of Max playing with his dog and the accompanying music caught my attention right away and never let go. The switches between the real world and the wild world were so incredible that I couldn’t believe the original DIDN’T tell the story in a nonlinear format. njvc picked the right scenes to switch to, and pulled it off masterfully. He also selected a soundtrack of indy-rock songs that fit the mood so perfectly that it gave me chills in a couple parts. The new ending was, quite simply, beyond perfect. All I can say is, this edit combined the original video with new music to deliver a really powerful emotional experience and was extremely entertaining. In fact, I only have two (very minor) suggestions: the first is the title appearing a second time on the freeze frame. I thought about this some more and then thought it would be cool if you just changed this title to the title of your edit and omitted the first title (totally up to you of course, this really didn’t have any effect on the edit overall). Secondly, if you could somehow intercut between the snowball scene and the scene where the Wild Things throw rocks at each other to draw a parallel, that would be really amazing. Either way though, this is one of the best edits I have seen. It was also really cool to see my name in the credits (thanks njvc!).

Overall – 10/10