Based on the book written by Maurice Sendak in 1963, Where the Wild Things Are is a recently adapted full-length film. It brought in $32.7 million during its opening weekend, offering moviegoers a chance to see the film in both conventional theatres or in I-MAX.
Where the Wile Things Are follows Max, a misunderstood boy who has a great need for attention. At the start of the movie, we witness Max’s wild nature, his isolation becomes evident when he builds an igloo outside, only to be destroyed by his sister’s friends as she leaves him crying. We hardly see Max connect with anybody but his mother, but when she is preoccupied with her boyfriend, Max quickly throws tantrums at the sight of her detachment. Out of anger and frustration, Max runs.
He runs out of his house and stumbles aimlessly into an ambiguous area filled with trees. Next thing we know, Max is on a sailboat that brings him to another world occupied by “wild things.”
Although the creatures threaten to eat him, Max claims to have special powers and soon becomes their king. He builds a friendship with the beasts, especially their “leader” Carol and another creature named KW. These creatures look up to Max to cure their sadness, but when apprehension rises and happiness fades, their kingdom comes falling apart.
Throughout the movie, we see Max grow and become quite the impact on the wild things. His imagination teaches him his own lessons.
Each monster portrays a certain personality paralleling Max’s own image.
The movie comes to show us that sometimes our imagination is all the adventure we need and maybe all we really need is love.
In all honesty, this movie kept my mind running for the majority of the night I watched it. The depth of Where the Wild Things Are exceeded my expectations, I thought it was just going to be the type of movie aimed for a much younger crowd. However, the symbolism and insight that the movie portrays isn’t something that any ten year old I know could ever grasp.
Up front, yes, the movie is pretty weird, but once you stop to think about it, maybe you’ll enjoy and appreciate its meaning.