The trailer for Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are premiered today on Ellen (yikes), but it’s been making its way around the internet since then, and damn does this film look gorgeous in motion.  I wasn’t expecting to see a trailer so soon, as I was still drooling over a lot of the beautiful still images that had been released.  With all of the problems that seemed to plague the filming of the Maurice Sendak children’s book adaptation, it’s just a joy to see this film come together.

As you may notice, this version of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” looks to be slightly tweaked over the original.  Regardless, listening to it sent chills down my spine as I watched it play over the trailer.  This is Spike Jonze taking a gigantic step as a director, and even if you’re not familiar with the source material, it doesn’t take much to appreciate his vision at work here.

Films about childhood are extremely difficult to get right, and it’s rare to see this sort of filmmaking done for what is essentially a kid’s film.  I’m hoping this is a taste of something genuinely great once this is released in October.