Where The Wild Things Are!!!!

If there is one movie you see this weekend, make it Where the Wild Things Are. Spike Jonze’s take on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book is a beautiful journey of childlike wonder and imagination. For those that haven’t read the book, it tells the story of young Max who has a bad day and runs away from home. While he is away, he sails to a remote island that is inhabited by, well, wild things. He tells them that he is a king with special powers, taking charge of their land with promises of constant fun and eliminating sadness. The book is only nine sentences long, and its images have been translated into a feature-length, live-action film, which is a bold move by its creators for not going with the safety of the typical CG-family film. The wild things are brought to us by those Jim Henson puppeteer masters, with faces that were computer-generated later. The result is characters—not creatures—that look and feel real to the audience, as well as to the actor that played Max, which is important in highlighting their massive size and the potential danger to him. That’s not the only reason it isn’t your usual kid’s flick. The movie doesn’t pander to its audience; it assumes that the kids watching it are able to comprehend and relate to its situations, even when they are wrapped in darker undertones, and I believe that they can. Everything that happens in the movie is told from Max’s perspective, a child’s perspective, and it does so in the most authentic and visceral way. No other movie has made me remember and revert back to my own childlike mentality—when the little things meant everything, or when you’re just so angry about something that is ultimately insignificant but you just can’t express its importance to someone that doesn’t understand, like an adult. And for the movie to hold this power makes it not only a wonderful film for children, but a gem for adults as well.