I have been looking forward to Where the Wild Things Are since I first saw the trailer a few months ago! The preview showcased an artful take on the classic childhood story, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. My research on the film began immediately: The movie would be directed by Spike Jonze, an eccentric writer/director/producer whose resume boasts some of the most bizarre and inventive movies/music videos ever to hit the screen. A frame-by-frame analysis of the trailer revealed that most, if not all, of the "wild things" would be making an appearance in the film. The movie's protagonist, Max, would star as the imaginative young boy who dreams up the land of the wild things. Max, played by Hollywood newcomer Max Records, sure did look the part, dressed in his wolf costume complete with a golden crown and scepter. All indications pointed to this being one heck of a film!
Before I continue; for those unfamiliar with the book, Where the Wild Things Are tells the story of Max who is sent to bed for misbehaving. He creates his own world of wild things where he can stomp about and be king. After a few pages of craziness, Max tires of this world and longs for his old life back. He escapes the wild things and returns home, presumably having learned the lesson that you can't always behave wildly, there's a time and a place for it. (Any other intended lesson went completely over my head as a child. My apologies to Maurice Sendak)
Having seen the movie now, I have decided, after much deliberation, that Where the Wild Things Are falls into a very unique genre with a very limited audience. Let me explain:
The larger than life monsters are fantastically brought to life on the big screen, remaining incredibly faithful to Sendak's Caldecott winning creations. However, the realism proved to be a little too much for some of the theater's younger viewers. (The two whimpering children seated right behind me were not the only young ones I heard crying during some of the movie's "scarier" moments)
The younger viewers definitely cried the loudest but they also laughed the hardest. The movie, as a whole, has a very light and comical feel; but the monsters can be just as frightening as they are goofy, especially for children.
Looking at the film as more of an adult (which I like to think I am"¦) I found myself somewhat lost around the middle of the movie. Some of the scenes did not seem to be "moving the narrative story along". For a guy who is really a kid at heart, I still could not help but wonder what the three-minute-long dog-pile, five-minute-long mud-clod fight and almost thirty-minute-long fort building scenes had to do with the rest of the movie!?!? Of course, this is a movie about a kid's fantasy world and a child's imagination has no obligation to stick to the three-act story structure of a traditional movie narrative. However, moviegoers beware: This is not a film for people who no longer feel a connection to the "kid within".
I feel bad for saying that. I really enjoyed the movie for the most part. "Older" individuals can appreciate the parallels drawn between Max's imaginary world and the real one. The wild things all seem to represent a different aspect of Max's personality and it is through his interactions with them that he is able to learn something about himself and the bigger lesson of how his real family views his actions. Kids would miss these parallels but I think most adults could see and appreciate them, as long as they are willing to stick around until the end of the film.
Where the Wild Things Are is a simple story that we all remember because we read it first with the mind of a child; back when our imaginations allowed us to fill in the gaps and transported us to the land of the wild things. Whether or not we understood the intended themes of Maurice Sendak is irrelevant. We understood the power of being able to create and escape to a world of our own. Where the Wild Things Are is more about the experience than the story. Spike Jonze's adaptation of the childhood classic, while faithfully recreated, lacks the core narrative structure that most moviegoers have come to expect from a feature film. Despite the movie's tagline of "inside all of us is a wild thing", I caution those of you lacking a personal wild thing within to avoid seeing this film, as you will almost certainly NOT enjoy it! However, for those of you who are still young at heart and are willing to sit through the EXPERIENCE of Where the Wild Things Are, you're in for one WILD ride!
