Review: Where the Wild Things Are
By Domenick Alberico
Staff Writer
Rating: 4/5
It is rare when a movie can allow you to experience visual, vivid dreams with your eyes wide open while transporting you into another world.
Director Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are” provides its audience exactly this experience.
“Where the Wild Things Are” is a fun and enjoyable movie for kids and adults alike.
It is full of awesome images, great sound quality and clever editing.
Max Records is a boy who lives with his single-parent mother, Catherine Keener, and an older sister, Pepita Emmerichs, who doesn’t have a lot of time for him anymore.
With a wide range of emotions, from the sentiment of loneliness and sadness to anger and neglect, Max acts out, by being loud and rough and kicking up a storm. Also, to make up for loneliness, Max begins to make up all kinds of stories, play make-believe and invent adventures for himself.
The movie cam appeal to all because it is about the use boundless imagination as a coping device—something we have all experienced at one point in time.
After going wild and biting his mother, Max runs away from his home, finds a boat, and sails away to the Wild Things’ island, where he is forced to convince the Wild Things not to eat him.
He quickly becomes their king, the “Wild Things” King, and runs around with them having fun.
Some might complain that nothing really happens during Max’s adventure, as he and the monsters do not do much more than destroying stuff, throwing themselves at each other, building forts and playing war. But if you’ve ever seen a kid in action or been one yourself, you should know that this is exactly what one would do.
All I can say is that I was reminded of my childhood throughout the whole thing. I laughed and was thrilled.
And then there are the Wild Things, of course, which I couldn’t get enough of.
They are cuddly, yet dangerous creatures, and most importantly, they have a lot of personality.
I honestly cared more for these guys than for most of the main characters I have seen in many other recent movies.
I truly hope I never turn into the kind of person who isn’t able to enjoy a movie like this.
