Well, if there's anything I can say about this movie in one, simple sentence it's this--This is NOT a kid's movie!
Where the Wild Things Are is a retelling of one of my favorite children's books of all time. The book, however, is 40 short pages. Most pages only have one or two sentences. Some pages have no words at all...just pictures. So, how did director Spike Jonze make a movie out of such a short children's picture book? With imagination, vision, and artistic direction, that's how!
The movie is exciting, scary, and even depressing at times. It tells the story of Max, a boy who is neglected and feels alone at home. His imagination is wild, but unfortunately, he has no one to share it with. He is forced to play alone or with imaginary friends.
After running away, Max finds himself in a crazy world, where wild beasts roam. He quickly realizes that he is not the only one who feels alone and unappreciated. Max has to overcome some of his own issues in order to be a leader for these beasts.
This movie, at times, is quite violent. I cannot imagine taking young children to this movie. Also, the movie is quite depressing, and although it has some great morals and life-questions, I wonder if its darkness overshadows its brighter moments. When the movie ended, I felt a little unsettled...and the movie was not quite what I had expected.
Nonetheless, I do recommend the movie due to its artistic abilities to connect the beasts to Max's own inner struggles and conflicts. The movie has a couple funny scenes, as well as some deeply moving ones. Also, worth noting is the fact that Jonze decided to make the beasts out of 6'8'' costumes...not animatronics. This is refreshing in a time when Hollywood too often forgets the routes that is has come from. Great movies such as Willow, The Never Ending Story, and Star Wars relied on real costumes for its characters, and it was really nice to watch this movie and be reminded of the way it once was, when there was no such thing as 3-D animation.
Out of 4 stars, I give it 2 1/2 stars.
