Where The Wild Things Are

The most important thing to know going into Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are is that it really straddles the line being between a kid’s movie and being an adult movie about being a kid. The movie is fine for kids, but it’s honest in how it deals with emotions – it doesn’t cater to kids or patronize them and it isn’t sentimental. Don’t go in expecting it to be happy-go-lucky, fun and cheerful as kid’s movies typically are.

That’s not to say it isn’t fun – it is a lot of fun. There are a lot of moments that are absolutely fun and joyous, but they get counterbalanced, immediately, by more serious moments. That serves to make those moments feel even more fun and joyous. It helps to make it real and powerful, much more so than if it had kept it very light and superficial as kid’s movies usually do. And this is what will most likely make most parents leave the theater unhappy that it wasn’t kiddy enough. But I think most kids can handle it. There’s enough in there for them to like. And as they get older, they will also appreciate the emotional content of it.

I don’t think there are very many adults who see it who can’t connect with Max and understand what he’s going through. He’s a raging rollercoaster of emotions and he doesn’t yet know how to process, understand or control them. When he tries to get his mother to play with him and she can’t because she’s talking with her boyfriend, his reaction is to act out to get her attention. Instead, she gets angry and he runs away physically and mentally. Max uses his imagination to run away to a place he thinks is better. But he also uses his imagination to try and process his emotions as the Wild Things’ emotions are as hair trigger and wild as his. By dealing with them in his imagination, he is able to see and understand better what he feels, how it affects others when he goes wild, and what others go through in dealing with him.

Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers did a terrific job in creating a full-length movie out of a ten sentence children’s book. The characters, and how they interact with each other, are superb. Even though Catherine Keener is only in the movie for a few minutes as Max’s mother, we are able to see that she does love him very much. There’s a very sweet, touching scene where she asks him to tell her a story after a rather disappointing work-related phone call. He lies under her desk, playing with her stocking, telling her a story, and as he does, she types it onto the computer. It’s very short, but through the writing and Keener’s acting (the way she looks at him in this scene is so incredibly moving), we are able to know everything we need to know.

Credit must be given to Jonze for his use of actors in puppet suits as the Wild Things, rather than deciding to create CG characters, as most filmmakers would likely do in today’s day and age (only the faces of the Wild Things are CG). It helps add to the reality and feeling of the film. The film most likely just wouldn’t be, or feel, the same otherwise. The visual style is stunning. Max Records is amazing as Max. The puppets from Jim Henson’s Puppet Shop are excellent. And this is simply an outstanding film.

4 1/2 stars out of 5