REVIEW: ‘Where The Wild Things Are’

As a parent, I’ve probably seen more than my fair share of children’s entertainment, ranging from the sublime (almost any Pixar movie) to the ridiculous (almost any TV programming aimed at teens or tweens).  Regardless of the quality, most of it follows a fairly simple formula: some jabs at authority figures, a few gross-out jokes, and a feel-good lesson at the end that leaves everyone smiling.

Apparently, somewhere along the way, Spike Jonze missed that memo.

“Where the Wild Things Are” is a dark, penetrating, and (dare I say) gritty allegory of childhood. It begins by only loosely following Maurice Sendak’s story:  There is a boy named Max (Max Records) who has a wolf costume, and he is quite a little wild thing himself as we see in the opening shot of him chasing the family dog with a fork.  Now, though, Max has a single mom (who’s dating) and an older sister (who seems to have outgrown little brother’s company), and it’s clear that the absence of his father is painful for him.  After one particularly obnoxious outburst at his mother, Max runs out of the house and into the night.

Of course, he comes across a boat and, after a difficult journey, he comes ashore to… well, where the wild things are.

However, this is not to the typical land where most children’s entertainment takes us. It’s a raw, decidedly grown-up movie mantled in the trappings of a children’s book. There is a boy, and there are monsters, and there is  escapism through imagination, which, if handled by 99 other directors might have churned out something a little less dense in meaning and emotion. Jonze, to his credit, does not flinch in his examination of childhood and its myriad of emotional currents.

“Listen to me.”
“Talk to me.”
“Protect me.”
“Play with me.”
“Love me.”

There were no warm fuzzy moments, no clever beasts spouting pop culture references.  The ending leaves you wanting to hug your loved ones – not because of some manufactured schmatlz but because the movie reminds you that you felt like this once, and your kids feel like this right now.

I’m sure more than a few folks will come out and say that this movie completely disregarded the book and had no respect for the source material. There’s only one problem with that statement: Sendak himself chose Jonze to make this movie and Jonze, in turn, consulted Sendak on the production, which he gave his blessings. That’s good enough for me.

“Where the Wild Things Are” is brave in its honesty and presentation. It not only bucks the industry standard, it defiantly raises a middle finger to it and says, “No, I’m going to show things how they are, not how we wish things were.”