Where The Wild Things Are Review

The Basic Elements that Make or Break this "Children's" Movie

Nov 11, 2009

Yes, we all know "Where the Wild Things Are" is an appealing movie, but nothing like the book. Here's a recap of why it isn't Disney material, but worth seeing anyway.

Where the Wild Things Are is a movie adaptation to the book, "Where the Wild Things Are," written in 1984 by Maurice Sendak. It's about a young boy, Max, confronting major emotional struggles based in his home. Max runs off one night, thrusting himself at sea, to land on an imaginary island where he's throned King of the “Wild Things.”

From there, he embarks on a turbulent adventure, until one day he’s forced to return home, back to face the monsters in his real life.

Most people expected it to be a kid flick, since it was based off an old classic, costing a whopping $100 million greenbacks to create. Since it was released on Oct. 16th, 2009 the box office tallies that it earned $69,845,792, fell a little short of expectations.

This movie is directed by Spike Jonze with Tom Hanks named as one of the producers. Jim Henson Co.’s Creature Shop was the curator of the ample-bodied crew of beasts of the forest kingdom, making the puppet costumes a little horrific but gallant at the same time. They are at turns scary, disturbing, yet charming from some different angles.

Max Records plays a self-righteous little boy and protagonist Max,”in the movie and Catherine Keener is the humble yet nerve-wrecked mom. James Gandolfi plays the ambiguous, hostile leader of the Wild Things, Carol, as Laruen Ambrose has the role of a lighter, nurturing and everyone’s favorite, KW.

Since this movie’s been out, there’s been hot and cold reactions from the crowd -as many critics are parents and kids alike, with valid reasoning on both ends of the spectrum. Here’s a cut and paste of several strong comments floating about cyberspace, specifically from THR e-views. Both of these perspectives hold truth, reflecting the good, the bad and the ugly.

“I was very excited for this movie. However halfway through the movie my 4 year old was begging to go home. I had high hopes that something wonderful was going to get his attention but that never happened. This movie is like watching divorce court with puppets. If I wanted to listen to that much arguing, I'd spy on my neighbors. Depressing and anxiety ridden."

“…Many people are missing the inner meaning and symbolism of the movie. People are watching the movie and depending on their age, intellect and personal past experiences are walking out of the theatre as if they did not see the same movie. Whether this movie becomes a box office hit, it is a psychological masterpiece…

Having grown up with some domestic abuse and disfunction in my own childhood home and having worked professionally with children from all types of troubled families, my experience with this movie was heart wrenching... I believe this movie also will touch those with abandonment issues…This is a reflective movie, perhaps even a therapeutic tool.”

Much of the movie tends to expose the candid and biting emotional battles of young Max, battling to win affection from his mother and going through psychological turnabouts to find solace in himself. Max acts spontaneously violent and angry in many scenes, reflecting the behavior of the wild things in whom he meets on a strange island. This is where it gets tricky.

The movie doesn’t shy away from the abuse, rage and jealousy people show to one another – nor does it go around the bush with the razor sharp judgments families can throw like daggers to their own loved ones. The beasts, in turn, don’t act like the usual lovable characters of a familiar children’s book, or like the Disney characters of a traditional sap-happy fairy-tale. It's not what you expect.

With that in mind, Where the Wild Things Are isn’t suitable for children just because of this false portrayal - and because it's downright adult content.

This imaginary movie is likely to either steal your heart away, or it’ll leave you with questions and possibly glowering resentment. Mostly, it depends on the viewer’s own experience with childhood drama, and if the viewer has the ability to gain insight from the messages, or not.

No matter what, the music’s got a first rate instrumental soundtrack of "Karen O and The Kids,” that will independently blow the mind on a whimsical adventure of emotion all it's own. That, in itself, is a good enough reason as any, to watch a movie coming out these days...

The copyright of the article Where The Wild Things Are Review in Fantasy Films is owned by Stephanie Flood. Permission to republish Where The Wild Things Are Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.