truth be told, this is the kind of movie i would typically not be interested in seeing. strangely, i actually never read this book when i was kid, although i distinctly remember my elementary school libary’s walls being painted in its entirety with scenes from the book. so, i am certainly familiar with the book’s story and characters. but with that said, these types of movies—much like narnia or other films of such ilk—are typically overhyped products of big budget studios. they consist of a lot of flashy cgi, but have little soul.

well, i think this movie may be different.

first of all, spike jonze directed it. if for some reason you’re living under a rock and don’t know spike jonze, let me inform you as to why he’s awesome. he’s produced and/or directed such classic works as jackass, jackass: number two and jackass 2.5. enough said. he may, though, be most well known for his music video directing, including the following: beastie boys’ sabotage & sure shot, tenacious d’s wonderboy, weezer’s buddy holly and fatboy slim’s weapon of choice. in their own right, each of these are classics.

second, the soundtrack is rumored to be under the direction of the yeah yeah yeahs’ karen o, which is pretty cool. you may not even know who the yeah yeah yeahs are, but the reason you might care is the following: 1.) the yeah yeah yeahs are pretty awesome and 2.) it means that the soundtrack (both in-movie music and just soundtrack music) will probably have a nice indie flair, as opposed to your typical bland big budget movie soundtrack. in addition to karen o’s involvement, another glimpse of the indie touch is the use of the arcade fire’s song wake up in the trailer. again, with this big of a movie, it would have been easy/typical to use some kind of cliché big name band’s song in the trailer. instead, you can see that spike jonze’s influence runs deep throughout every aspect of production.

so, instead of talking about the cool trailer, why don’t you check it out. here it is.