A tale as old as time, or at least 1963 when Maurice Sendak first released it, Where The Wild Things Are like many beloved childhood stories became a feature length film in 2009, previously only existing as a children’s book and an animated short.
Directed by Spike Jonze, and staring Max Records as Max, the film takes us on a tale similar to that of the book, but if you’re looking for a carbon copy of the story, this isn’t the adaption for you. The story begins with a young boy playing in the snow, turning a pile of snow pushed of the road into a hollowed out “igloo.” As the boy tries to get his older sister and her friends to play with him. While his attempts were successful he hs trouble handling the rowdieness of teens and gets injured, taking out his frustrations on his sister. Later in the evening we see more on his homelife, with his mother punishing him he runs off and proceeds on a journey that ends with him being where the wid things are. AFter many wild journeys with them and being declared their king, handling drama and emotions and broken friendships he teaches them new ways before heading off on his own. WHile the movie has a happy ending it wasn’t one I enjoyed.
The movie itself is pretty solid technically, with a diversity in lighting and colors. What it lacks to me is a solid story adding a bunch of filler to take it from a short to a movie things move slow paced. The story itself builds up for the majority of the movie leaving the ending feeling to rushed, ending it as quick as it does in the original story with disregard for the majority of the story of the film.
Personally this isn’t a film I would recommend, but if you are someone who enjoys the original book, or movies that don’t take a lot of focus to watch maybe it’s still worth giving it a shot.
Movie Reviews by Leah 