“Where the Wild Things are,” directed by Spike Jonze and based on the book by Maurice Sendak, takes a serious in depth look at childhood and dissects its emotional impact.
Max Records stars in “Where the Wild Things Are.” (Photo provided by Warner Bros./MCT)
The film is a glimpse into what it is like to feel like a child and follows Max, an 8 to 9-year-old boy confronted by a storm of emotions.
Although Jonze directed “Where the Wild Things Are” to stay true to the likeness of the popular children’s book, Jonze said it isn’t a children’s film.
“I didn’t set out to make a children’s movie,” Jonze said during HBO’s Making of “Where the Wild Things Are.” “I set out to make a movie about childhood.”
In that aspect, he succeeded.
Although the movie is rated PG, it’s very dark and violent at times. Max and the Wild Things have a mean streak that, if imitated by kids, could cause them to act out in a destructive way.
The story begins with Max wildly snarling and chasing a dog around the house dressed in his signature white outfit sporting ears and a tail, which is symbolic because animals are considered wild beasts and people are supposed to be civilized.
But are we?
In the beginning, Max is in the snow building an igloo and stocking it with snowball ammunition. His older sister’s friends stop by to pick her up and he engages them in what seems to be a fun snow fight, but it doesn’t end well because the big kids smash his igloo he put so much effort into building.
Not knowing how to handle it, Max reacts irrationally and goes crazy in his sister’s room, drenching it in melting snow and destroying a present he made for his sister out of pop-sicle sticks.
After his burst of anger, Max seems a little remorseful and lies in his bed till his mother returns. She is sympathetic to him until she sees what happened in his sister’s room, and then is rightfully upset by what he did.
Around dinnertime, Max acts cruel to his mother, insulting her and then biting her. He runs away into a forest where he finds a sailboat that turbulently transports him to his fantasy island.
Let the wild rumpus start.
Upon Max’s arrival, Carol, the main wild thing, is going absolutely berserk. He is storming around, demolishing the huts the creatures live in while the other wild things stand around in despair over Carol’s fit. It is obvious that Carol is upset over the departure of his female love interest, K.W.
At first, Max stays hidden in the trees, just watching the creatures. Then he too begins to wail on the stick huts. He doesn’t even fret when the wild things threaten to eat him. He fearlessly claims himself to be king and promises the wild things that he will make everything better.
Each Wild Thing has its own unique personality trait: distrusting, anti-social, angry, shy, lonely, naive, and so on. They represent the emotions living inside of Max that he is trying to control.
Max and the Wild Things interact wonderfully for a while, having fun and being wild. They build bonds as they create a huge fort to live in together with the ambition of sleeping in one big pile. But eventually the Wild Things turn on him and become aware that Max isn’t truly the king he claimed to be, and is just a boy.
Max leaves the wild things and returns home, and back to reality. But, it is unclear whether Max has learned anything. The point of the Wild Things representing Max’s emotions is clear to adults, but perhaps not to children, leading to the question: Who is the intended audience for this film? It is very violent and deep for a children’s movie, yet too simplistic to satisfy adults.
Regardless of the target demographic being unclear, the visual and special effects are fantastic. Moviegoers can feel the “realness” of the world created by Max’s imagination because to him, it is real.
Jonze does a great job of transporting the viewer into a fantasy world with stunning visuals, including Max’s oceanic voyage to the island of Wild Things and the dirt clod fight scene.
Jonze had the approval and support of Sendak while making this film.
“The film has an entire emotional, visual life which is as valid as the book,” Sendak said. “He’s done it like me but in a more brilliant modern, fantastical way which takes nothing from my book but enhances [and] enriches my book.”
With acknowledgement like that from the author, it is difficult to say anything bad about the film. But the movie still has its weak points. At times, some scenes seem to drag on and the viewer is left wondering, “Where is this going?”
And although it is clear that Max is confronting his emotions, there is no real lesson learned when Max returns home. His experience with the Wild Things led to no apparent revelation or epiphany.
Overall, I rate the movie a 7 out of 10. Rent it instead of seeing it in theaters. It might be worth the five bucks at Blockbuster, but not the $11 at the theatre, unless of course you’re a die-hard Sendak fan.
After all, childhood is painful enough without having to pay to remember and relive some of the turmoil of youth brought up in the movie.
Still, the story is unique like Max, who is a one-of-a kind kid.
“I like the way you destroy stuff,“ Carol, (James Gandolfini), told Max when they first met. “Good technique. There’s a spark to your work that can’t be taught.”
Contact Leslie McDonnell at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
