Where the Wild Things Are

For 94 minutes I felt like a kid again.

As anyone who grew up reading the book knows, the plot of Where the Wild Things Are is threadbare at best. Kid misbehaves, gets sent to his room without dinner, and goes on a simple imaginary journey to a land filled with “Wild Things,” while learning a valuable lesson about family. As much as I loved the book as a child, I was skeptical as to how well it would translate into a feature-length film. Knowing that Maurice Sendak lent his approval and assistance to the making of the movie, however, gave me at least some cause for hope.

I should have placed more faith, though, in Spike Jonze’s directorial abilities. Having directed such favorites of mine as Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, he now earns a new level of my respect for his brilliant adaptation of Sendak’s classic children’s book. Rather than letting the slight nature of the book limit him, Jonze uses the book as a sort of springboard for creating something far grander than the book itself—while still remaining faithful to the original.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie that captures the essence of childhood as perfectly as Where the Wild Things Are does. There is an indescribable way in which Jonze (through Sendak’s work) pulls you in and makes you experience Max’s life—both the real and imaginary parts—through the eyes of a child. Jonze somehow succeeds in stirring up in adults joy and excitement, as well as fear and anger, in the way that only a child experiences these feelings. Even much of the dialogue seems like it was written by a child—not in the sense of “dumbed down,” but in the way that it captures a child’s quirky imagination.

I was impressed with the depth of meaning within the interactions among Max and the Wild Things. Each of the creatures represented some part of Max’s personality or his relationship with his mother and sister, yet lacked the clear-cut, compartmentalized method by which adults organize their outer and inner lives.

Also impressive was the way that the costumes, animatronics, and CGI were blended seamlessly, creating some of the most convincing creatures that I have seen in a movie.

Because the film is geared mainly toward adults, it tends to be less appropriate for children than you might expect. Some slow-moving scenes may bore children; and the dark themes and sometimes-violent content may be too much for young children to handle. In addition, the meaning of the movie can be fully appreciated only by those who have passed into adulthood and can view childhood in retrospect.

Conspicuously absent from Where the Wild Things Are were both the underlying agenda and simplistic positive message that are all too prevalent in movies. It did not attempt to give children (or adults) unrealistic expectations of life; nor did it try to convince viewers to view the world in a particular way. While this lack of clearly distinguishable “moral” may bother some people, I took pleasure in the movie’s simple embracing of all of life, both the good and the bad. I walked away from the Where the Wild Things Are refreshed and encouraged, delighted in the childhood experience I had just been given à la Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze.

Intelligence Level: 8/10

Scare Factor: Average

Violence Level: Moderate

Humor Level: Several laugh-out-loud moments

Overall Rating: 10/10

Best Line: “Whoa! He has a double re-cracker!”

“Moral of the Story”: Reliving what it feels like to be a child can be therapeutic.