This isn't so much a review, so much as things I've understood from it. This is more of a discussion of what I've taken away from it. So expect this to be littered with spoilers (he runs away to a place where there's wild things... ).
So remember that part at the end when Max cuts off the Monster's head and it's revealed to be his father, who he realized is a figment of his imagination, named Tyler Durdon, and the Titanic sinks.
Just seeing if you're really paying attention. As you can tell, none of the above is true... for this movie. This movie does have some interesting themes and toys with some fairly deep meanings for a children's film.
To get everything set on the table, let me fill you in on the basics. The book about a boy named Max, who misbehaves and is sent to his room. While in his room he imagines a whole new world where the wild things are. He becomes king through an intense staring contest and a bunch of animalistic partying (like John Belushi, but without beer) begins. He eventually goes home because he gets homesick and lonely. There's a goodbye and he's back home with hot soup still awaiting him.
The visuals of the book are akin to Pablo Picasso meets Edward Gorey:
The story and book are both done by Maurice Sendak. The movie was directed by
Spike Jonze, a
music video director turned
feature film director, and written by Jonze and
David Eggers. As far as reviewing the movie goes, I will say this. The visuals are absolutely stunning and the writing is exemplary compared to most children books adapted to the big screen.
The thing about any music video director, is that they need an excellent screen writer to pull their work through all two hours instead of all two minutes (both Spike and
Michel Gondry have to thank
Charlie Kauffman for their only Oscar noms). David Eggers only does a mediocre job with dialogue and story and Spike Jonze kind of runs rampant with visuals, though the concept is pretty advanced for a children's movie. This isn't such a bad thing, as there are some incredible scenes that make up for other lackluster ones
Where The Discussion Begins
I've whittled this conversation down in my head into 3 concepts that kind of run through the movie.
Concept 1: Coming of Age That Doesn't Deal with First Love
Most coming of age films usually revolve around a girlfriend/boyfriend, bf/bf, gf/gf, type of relationship. This movie attempts to describe it from imaginary monsters.
The beginning of the movie shows us the increasing gap between him and his sister. It shows how close they used to be and how she now prefers to hang out with her peers instead of her little brother. Being a little brother, I can back up, how much I missed my older sisters when they moved out and went out with their own friends. When you're little, all you usually have is family.
The mother in the film is divorced/widowed (it's never clearly stated, all that's known is that she's making out with this guy that Max doesn't really approve of). She works from home when she can and seems to struggle with bills and other adultly duties. Her time with her son is being cut down for her own personal life.
In a retaliatory manner, Max lashes out at the two closest to him and is punished for doing so. He runs away and escapes to this imaginary world of Wild Things and his insecurities and fears are pretty much filtering through each creature.
Carol, the main Wild Thing, is Max's voice. Max is in many ways like him, both create a wooden representation of love (Max; the popsicle stick, construction paper heart he made for his sister. Carol; the miniature wooden landscape he works on), both Max and Carol have half baked ideas that never really come out the way that they want. "I'm feeling sad and lonely." Solution? Giant dirtball fight and make everyone you don't like the bad guys and make the people you want to get together the good guys. Rather than bringing everyone together like they thought it would, it created further splintering between the group.
When push comes to shove, they both react in their most violent states and create chaos without thinking. The way Carol argues with the other Wild Things is very reminiscent of how a 10 year old would bicker with his siblings. They both can get a little bratty when things don't go their way, though Carol is far more destructive and way scarier. When they first screened this for a test audience, everyone said that it was too scary and they had to tone it down. I now wonder what is left on the cutting room floor.
All Carol really wants everyone to sleep in a pile and to become more of a family. He misses KW and wishes she didn't hang out with her friends so much.
KW represents a loving female companion who is a certain voice of reason. Everyone loves her and she loves everyone in return. She just wants to go out on her own and have her own friends. While the others take don't take so much offense to this, Carol takes it the worst. KW always talks about her two friends Bob and Terry, who you come to find out are two owls she hits with a rock to get them down from the air. She holds them, one under each arm. Bob and Terry are apparently smart, clever, and know just what to say. They speak in squawks that everyone understands except for Max and Carol.
Let me just use this space to say something really quick. If you did not laugh at their knock knock joke, then you have no soul.
What they represent, on the other hand, are beings that are free to do as they please. They can fly in the air and are intelligent creatures. Higher beings than that of Wild Things. Do you have friends that you hang out with, that you think are so cool, you wish you could be them? That's why she's with them. What drives this point forward more, is that she has to kind of grab them down to her level to make sure they don't fly away. They're things that she wishes she could be and it becomes very off putting for Carol who is proud of what he is and wants everyone to be together.
She's still the big sister/protective mother though and at certain point in the film when all fun is destroyed and Max is outed for not being a real king with powers to help them, Carol goes on a destruction spree so bad that KW actually has to hide Max in her stomach so that he doesn't find him.
The other characters aren't don't really stand out, so much as just act as different parts of Max's personality. Alexander (the small goat looking one) is timid and provides a lot of comedic straight man laughs. It plays on Max's conscience and how it sort of takes a back seat to the much larger things. Everyone picks on him and at the end, Max feels really sorry about it, after he sees the wounds he's inflicted on him. Judith and her husband Ira are Max's mom and her boyfriend... to a certain extent. Max's mom may also take on the perception of KW as well. Judith acts a little immature sometimes and was the first to speak out and say that they should eat Max, but there were times when she was protective of him as well. There were even a few awkward moments when Ira would try to kiss and make out with her, while she was talking. Ira also makes holes and is really good at making holes in trees. You can see this as fun destructive, or creating holes in relationships. Whatevs. The last character is The Bull. Who is this giant creature who only makes loud groaning noises during the film and sometimes gets in the way of things or helps them out immensely. He's a large brooding character that's pretty scary, but, like everyone knows: every huge dark creature has a soft, sweet side to them.
After all the interpretations and character development, we come down to the ending moments. "The Sadness" is settling in over people and they all look to their great King Max to swoop in to save the day. When he can't, all the wild things kind of turn on him. KW is the only one who's still up to converse with him however.
Coming through it all, Max eventually has to bid adieu to everyone after he messes up everything so badly. In the moment that almost made me cry, he sets a heart shaped symbol of love in the destroyed model of Carol's before he leaves. As Max packs the boat from whence he came, Carol stumbles upon the little heart and runs to the water to try and make amends for his mistakes. He comes too late, only to see Max already sailing along, to which all he can do is howl sadly.
But whether it was Max's fault or not, he learned from this "test family" that love is what keeps everyone together and that he eventually has to just accept everyone and everything as they are.
When I mean coming of age, I mean this on all fronts. Teenagers and kids go through it their own way, but this movie also touches on how an adult has to cope with it as well. Yeah, I can shove the words teenagers, kids, adults, and touches, all in one sentence without making it sound creepy.
Concept 2: What is a King?
Whether intentional or not, Where the Wild Things Are is a very philosophical movie. If you replace the word King with God, many of the lines through the movie become that much deeper. Take this for example: "Now you are king and you will be a truly great king."
There's this constant idea that a King is held up to all these duties, yet is always met with disappointment and eaten. KW even mentions at the end that Max is the first king that they didn't eat.
A king, according to this imaginary universe, is also meant to have these powers to help their people at any time. But with Max so bumbling in his ruling, it reminds me of the
Futurama episode where
Bender is made God of these tiny people living on his body. Every time Max thinks up a "good idea" it backfires just as quick as it gets started with someone or many things getting hurt in the process.
Kings unite people. Whether it's a just cause or a rebellion of tyranny, people usually tend to be held together under this idea. "It feels good to have a king again." Mentions one of the Things when Max was crowned. Max's rule holds up for only so long, uniting people in a big dogpile of sleep, and then have it suddenly turn into a war of us vs. them.
Where the straw finally breaks Carol's back in this whole mess is when Max tries to build his own door to their fort. Individuality, even when you're king isn't accepted according to this world. Max can't have his own door and make it secret. That ruins Carol's view of everyone being together.
So a question comes along, "Are we to police our own God, or should we just lay back and accept what God gives us." Things doesn't necessarily answer that question (because I'm kind of pushing this kings = gods idea anyways) and it isn't a clear cut answer either. Everyone could get together if they really want to, but they strive for that one guiding force to lead them to it.
Concept 3: George W. Bush, 911, and Nazis.
THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT HOW FEAR WAS BEING USED BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION!! MAX IS PRESIDENT BUSH. HE LIED TO US ABOUT THREATS LIKE HOW MAX LIED ABOUT HELPING THE WILD THINGS. HE MADE THE WILD THINGS DESTROY NATURE LIKE HOW BUSH DESTROYED THE EARTH WITH GLOBAL WARMING! THE WILD THINGS ARE ALSO TERRORISTS WHO DESTROY BUILDINGS LIKE IT'S 911!!11! THEY'RE ALSO NAZIS BECAUSE THE BELIEVE IN FREE HEALTHCARE!! CASH FOR CLUNKERS WAS AN INSIDE JOB!!! ALSO BARRACK OBAMA IS HAVING A TEA PARTY IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE LAST SCENE!!
Obviously Concept 3 is a joke. It was mostly inspired by the one reviewer who said that WALL-E was an allusion to 911 and that Dance Flick was an achievement for black people, especially in a post Barrack Obama world.
On a more serious note, this movie doesn't really talk down to kids and allows them to try and get these two concepts. That is, if children could sit down and pay attention for a minute. Which leads me to my next point:
Who Is This Movie For?
Unfortunately, I feel that this movie is one of those things where it's too grown up for kids and too kiddy for grown ups. The hipsters will definitely like the movie for it's kitsch and throwbacks to childhood. The main audience are obviously fans of this book, but if you're completely new to it, you may not enjoy it so much.
The heart is definitely there, and if you're looking forward to it you won't be disappointed.
