Where The Wild Things Are

[Dave McLaren]

I know I read that book in elementary school, vaguely recall some pictures, but that's about it. Maybe all that partying in the '80s trashed those memories, but I'm trying to comprehend how you guys actually remember that book. I suppose it was a good book, and I guess I'll be seeing that flick as my son is nine years old. Maybe it'll stimulate some severed synapses and help ward off the alzheimers for a few more years.

[ragged325]

My review (spoilers inside):

4.5/5 stars

I thought the movie perfectly expanded on the children's book. The point, IMO, was to go inside the mind/psychology of a 12-yr. old boy who had gone through his parent's divorce. After watching the movie, I felt like I understood the point of the book and it all made sense.

To me, the point was that a boy that age wants to spend their days racing cars and looking for lost pirate treasure. Instead, everyone tells them what to do, they don't have control over anything and they don't understand how the world works. I thought the movie demonstrated what a frustrating age it is and reminded me of the problems in my life at the time.

The island was the boy's fantasy and all of the creatures showed how the boy saw adults (the Carol creature represented his dad). The creatures were all big, weird and scary-looking and dumped a lot of psychological shit on the boy that he couldn't understand.

My sister recently went through a divorce and I can see how her kids' must view what is going on. My sister, mother and I all get into heated discussions about the divorce, but we never explain what we're talking about to the kids and so they can't understand what we're all agitated about. The kids hear bits and pieces of conversations and don't see how it all fits together. I imagine that it must all seem equally as strange as the movie from their perspective.

The fantasy of the island was that the boy could tell all of the creatures/adults that he was in charge and that they would listen to him (even though he couldn't put together a logical argument because he's 12). It revealed that as a boy that age, you're sick of being bossed around, but you're not smart/mature enough to do anything responsible if you were.

The Carol character revealed how the boy came to understand that his dad was fucked in the head. He started out thinking that Carol was likable and was lots of fun. Carol told the boy how he was going to create this great town and the boy believed him. When Carol lost his way and destroyed the town, the boy could see Carol's damaged psychology and he understood why he had to leave the island and go back to reality (accept his parent's divorce).

It's all very similar to my sister's ex-husband. He has a lot of very good qualities and could be good to his kids. When life's pressures got to be too much, he got irrational and turned crazy and acted extremely dysfunctional. As an adult, and having known people who can't get their shit together, I feel as though I could see the situation from an adult's perspective. I can see though, that my sister's kids have no idea of what is going on and it's a very strange situation. When they see their dad acting crazy and fucking up his life, it must be hard for them to see that it's not normal for people to behave that way.

Overall, I thought that the lighting, puppetry, direction, etc., perfectly created the mood and feeling of the book. I will add that I got very high before I went. It's been 31 years since I was 12, but the movie reminded me of that age and allowed me to relive it from an adult's perspective. I would have been very disappointed if the movie had been a light-hearted, PG-13, CGI-filled children's story starring Jim Carrey. It was amazing for me to find a forgotten piece of my childhood brought to life and explained in an adult way.

I guess the book did not catch on when it was first released, but after a couple years started to take off. I think the fantasy of going to magical island where you get to tell the adults what to do is a great fantasy for kids at that age.

[Jand3rson]

I guess I can understand a lot of the points you made, especially about Carol, and just wanting everyone to be happy. I just really felt depressed the whole time watching it, and I never felt that way reading the book. I think the whole divorced-parents subplot was really unnecessary. It's like every movie nowadays has to have a subplot of some kind of daddy/family issues. I think that they still could have made a great movie out of it without having to drop the whole divorce thing in there.

When I read the book, and even now, what I got from it is that he was just a super-hyper little kid who was driving his parents nuts, and got sent to his room for it. He went to a fantasy world where he could be king and tell other people what to do for a change, and when he realized he missed his home, and that he wasn't really the one who should be telling everyone what to do, he went home.

I think this is one of those books that just shouldn't have been made into a feature-length movie. I think as a short film, like a 30/45 minute run-time type of film-festival thing, starring the same people and maybe still directed by Spike Jonze, it could have been SO much better. But when you try to turn a 10 page children's book into a feature-length movie, you have to add in way too much stuff that doesn't need to be there, and it took the story down a road I didn't like.

[boom-monkey]

I agree with ragged325. It was on the dark side for sure, but this was coming from the mind of a clearly troubled boy. At first I thought it was totally bizarre how bi-polar the Wild Things were acting, but you have to remember that these creatures were the brainchild of a little boy. A good illustration of this was the vampire story he told to his mom.......nonsense, limited plot, basic emotions. For the most part that's how kids of that age tell a story, so it makes sense that the Wild Things show only extremes of emotion.

I think it was very good, and entertaining for sure. To think that they shouldn't have made the movie if it didn't stick exactly with the book is a little closed minded. That is, after all, the point of Hollywood. To create, entertain, and suspend belief.

I think this article on the movie is hilarious, and rings true in several ways.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/07/13/127-where-the-wild-things-are/

[Jand3rson]

To think that they shouldn't have made the movie if it didn't stick exactly with the book is a little closed minded. That is, after all, the point of Hollywood. To create, entertain, and suspend belief.

I'm not saying they should have stuck exactly to the book, but in my opinion, the movie was made into something that it shouldn't have been. I don't like it that something that made me happy and entertained me as a child was turned into something that makes me feel bummed out and disappointed. And I'm just really not into depressing, sad, "I have tons of issues" movies. They leave me in a crappy mood, and that's how I felt when I left the theater.

Beyond that, I really liked the movie for what it was. I was expecting to be impressed from a visual standpoint, and I really was, which I was happy about. I was really stoked on the little things they threw in there from the book, like when he yelled "I'LL EAT YOU UP!" at his mom, and how at the end, his dinner was a bowl of soup and a slice of cake, just like the end of the book. Things like that are what I really look for and can really appreciate when I see a movie that's an adaptation of a story, comic, or video game, something thrown in there for the real fans.

[boom-monkey]

I'm not saying they should have stuck exactly to the book, but in my opinion, the movie was made into something that it shouldn't have been.

Touche, different strokes....

[daniel]

and how at the end, his dinner was a bowl of soup and a slice of cake

way to just GIVE AWAY THE ENDING








:p

[Jand3rson]

Did you know at the end of The Passion of the Christ, Jesus dies?

[vlad]

I went to see this movie with my 8 year old son, one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen, although, I understand the point they tried to make, I would not suggest this movie to anybody

[OrganicMechanic]

I usually love movies that everyone else hates, I will rent.

[Maluco]

damn, I don't know if I should bother watching it or not. Furthermore, I've never read the book.

It's at my local dollar movies and, I was thinking about watching it one of these nights while it's still on a big screen...

[Farbin Kaiber]

Booo. For a dollar do it, otherwise, I say eh.

[pureaudio]

Turned it off after a little bit into it, didn't like it at all.