We have read Where the Wild Things Are to the kids many times, so it was natural that we’d show them the cinematic transposition, which I’m happy to report is quite good. I was actually surprised that a book so short could be successfully stretched into a full-length motion picture, but Spike Jonze did an excellent job.
The plot: a kid runs away from home after an altercation with his mom and, upon finding a boat, sails away in anger. After a while, he reaches a shore, but the creatures living on that newfound land aren’t really human. Will our hero manage to live among them? Will he like it? Will he ever leave?
Max Records does an excellent job as the kid who would be king and Catherine Keener, in the very small part of his mother, is great as usual. The visual effects, costumes, art direction, and makeup however, are what really make this movie succeed, especially given that the creatures weren’t computer generated, but rather actors in real, physical costumes.
Overall, I liked both the story and the visuals, but I would recommend against showing this to very young children, in spite of its PG rating. Our kids are 7 and 8 and I’m glad they weren’t any younger, mostly because there’s an overall darkness, sadness, and depression, coupled with some not-so-mild violence, pervading the entire movie.
Grade: 8
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