Movie Review: Where the Wild Things Are

The challenge of turning a 10-sentence children’s book into a feature-length motion picture might seem like a daunting task, but Where the Wild Things Are by director Spike Jonze is evidence that it can be done, and done well. Make no mistake, this isn’t merely a kids’ flick. Instead, it is a film that will captivate adults just as much as young viewers. Jonze has created a film that will resonate with audiences of all ages for years to come, just as the story by Maurice Sendak has captivated readers since it was first published in 1963.

When discussing his big screen adaptation of Sendak’s classic, Jonze said, “I didn’t set out to make a children’s movie; I set out to make a movie about childhood.” And it shows. Adults will connect with Where the Wild Things Are because Jonze manages to weave a yarn that is both fantastical and realistic, both outrageously imaginative and completely grounded in true emotions.

It might seem funny to talk about realism when describing a movie about a boy mingling with make-believe monsters that look like overgrown Muppets. Yet, that is the strength of Where the Wild Things Are. Jonze, with his co-writer Dave Eggers, has written a script, based on Sendak’s brilliantly simple foundation, that explores the primal feelings that are familiar to every child – loneliness, anger, confusion, joy, and love.

Other filmmakers in the past have ruined beloved tales from their youth by trying to expand the story into a different medium, failing to recapture the original’s sense of wonder. Spike Jonze’s retelling of Sendak’s concise fable brings the story to life through the imaginative eyes of a child and, at the same time, the hindsight of a grown-up who finally remembers what it was like to be a kid. As Carol, the Wild Thing, says at one point, “We forgot what it was like to have fun.”

Jonze reminds us what it was like to have fun, when kids enjoyed days flowing into nights and into days again without being enslaved by the sense of time that is one of the many curses of adulthood. He reminds us of the simple pleasures of childhood, when all it took to bring a smile was running around and screaming with abandon. He also manages to show all the pain and fear that is also a part of early life, providing enough hints and clues to explain why the little boy Max (with Max Records perfectly cast in the role) escapes into the fantasy world spawned by his imagination.

Article Author: Kikstad

Nick Leshi is a writer, actor, and media professional who loves the world of entertainment, speculative fiction, and pop culture. Read his daily blog and let him know what you think.

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