Where The Wild Things Are
In many ways, Where the Wild Things Are is a movie about being a child that you have to be an adult to grasp. Spike Jonze could have gone any number of directions with a screenplay. After all, the book is only ten lines and it couldn’t translate to the big screen without some liberties being taken. And Jonze has taken some liberties even though Maurice Sendak himself had final script approval. What’s so amazing is that the liberties Jonze, and co-writer Dave Eggers have taken add a depth to those original ten lines that will simply further endear the book to many.
Young Max is the product of a divorce. His Mother tries but is struggling to put her life back together after a divorce, holding her family together and pursuing a career. His older sister is outgrowing him and Max is struggling to make sense of his world and emotions. They seem too big for him, scary, like he can’t control them. After an outburst that bewilders his Mom and frightens himself, Max finds himself on an island with large beasts. Though they could eat him at any time, Max is left trying to make sense of the monsters and even reconcile them.
Speaking about the movie to Pitchfork, Jonze says:
Well, cinematic terms. I knew I wanted it to be live action; I wanted to build the wild things for real. I wanted to be on location. I wanted it to be a real boy with real creatures, in a dangerous, unpredictable environment, where you’re with wild animals. But that wasn’t enough to make a movie. It was more the idea that gave me confidence that there was a movie there was that the wild creatures were wild emotions, and Max was trying to understand things that were confusing and frightening, and made him anxious– things being out of control, and him being sort of emotionally wild himself.
What unfolds is a beautiful character study of a boy trying to make sense of love, fear, rejection, loneliness and everything in between, finding, in the words of one of the beasts, “It’s hard to be a family.” Max finds that even in his so-called “safe places,” life and all of its complications, finds a way of creeping in.
From a Christian viewpoint, there are many things we could take away from a story like this. For example, we could talk about the King who will never let us down. We could talk about the pervasive spread of the Fall. But, we could also talk about how love covers a multitude of wrongs (1 Peter 4:8). But sometimes it’s enough to recognize that some stories resonate with us all.
I hadn’t looked forward to a movie as much as this one in a long time. And it didn’t disappoint.
Have you seen it? What did you think?
Hey Brent- thanks for the review. I was wondering what you thought about taking the kids to see this movie. I’ve seen one review that echoed yours in its critique (positive), but mentioned it might be too sad or scary for young viewers. What do you think? By the way, I loved what you said, ‘it’s enough to recognize that some stories resonate with us all’.
We didn’t take our kids, mostly because we weren’t sure what the movie would be like. I think kids would do OK but not really get a lot of the complexities of what’s going on. In fact, as odd as it might sound, I wonder if our kids would have been bored at parts.
Thanks! That is very helpful…
We took our kids to see it. They are 8 (girl) and 9 (boy). They both thoroughly enjoyed it, though I think it is fair to say that many of the complexities and nuances of the story went over their heads. The story was engaging enough for them, however, to each say that they really liked it when it was over.
Thanks, Brent, for a great review.
My wife and I saw it on Saturday. I thought it was an absolutely beautiful movie, even though it was profoundly sad. The part that stuck out most to me was the terror that Max experienced over the thought of the sun dying. It is just a reminder that we need to be careful with what we say to children. They take everything so literally.
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What is your take on the “wild things”… do you think they were representing individual people or different emotions he was experiencing? My wife and I were talking about it for a while – each taking different sides.
Jonze seems to present the “wild things” emotions in general but also as specific to a lot of what Max is going through: lack of control, anger, loneliness, separation, anxiety, etc. He is expected to control something he doesn’t know how to.
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Hey, Brent, just catching up on my google reader – I’m a bit behind.
As to the questions about the kids, my mom DID take all three kids to see the movie week before last, and they were a bit disinterested and a bit scared at times. The overall consensus seemed to be “Yeah, it was alright.” Contrasted with the enthusiastic replies when they saw “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” earlier in the week, it didn’t seem to be as good a review. When I asked which they like the best: “MEATBALLS!” I suspected at that point that perhaps the movie was intended more for the parents, as you said in your first line, “Where the Wild Things Are is a movie about being a child that you have to be an adult to grasp.” That being said, the kids may not hate it.. but they may not love it as much as other movies, either.