Movie Review: Where the Wild Things Are

On October 16th, the movie Where the Wild Things Are came to theaters. As many readers know, this movie is based on the book by Maurice Sendak which bares the same title and has become a huge best seller among children and adults alike. The picture book tells the story of an unruly young boy named Max who is sent to his room without supper. While in his room, he imagines being transported to a land with a mysterious forest that houses numerous imaginary animals. When Max arrives on this foreign land, the monsters declare him their king and they create a "rompus". They romp for many pages in the book until the monsters become tired. Max makes them dinner and as they sleep he becomes homesick and eventually returns home to his room. The plot is simplistic and the majority of the book revolves around Sendak's gorgeous drawings.

 In the film version of Where the Wild Things Are, Max is an unruly and misunderstood child who bites his mother and runs away into the forest. While in the forest, he creates an imaginary land where he can be king of giant wild monsters. The monsters are hesitant to allow Max to be their king, but they eventually consent. As is written in the book, Max and the monsters begin to rompus until Max decides to create a kingdom for himself. All of the monsters work to construct a kingdom in which they can all be equal in live in house made out of twigs. Still, there are certain monsters that do not get along with others and conflicts arise between the monsters as well as between Max and the monsters. Max soon learns the importance of family and having a mother who cares about him. He decides to leave the imaginary land and return home to where his mother is waiting for him.

Where the book is easy to describe and clearly a masterpiece of children's literature, the movie leaves a lot to be desired and does not embody the wonder and awe that is told in the picture book. The film includes all of the events in the book but it then embelishes the story in a way that waters down the message that is created in the book. The book's moral is that one's imagination can be fantastic and help them get through uncomfortable times, but there is no replacement for actual life. However, the movie's moral appears to be that family is important and those without family are lacking and will remain downtrodden. Though these morals don't conflict with each other, they certainly tell a different story.

In regards to the filming of the movie, Where the Wild Things Are seems to be a victim of the all too contemporary "indie filming" in which it feels that the camera man is filming the movie from a personal camera that he is holding on his shoulder. The shots are wobbly and I often felt naseous due to the jostling of the camera. However, the filming of the monsters was certainly interesting. The costume artists were able to stay very close to the depiction of the monsters that is given in the book. Still, the monsters in the book are unattractive and at times scary. Therefore, those in the movie were the same. Perhaps it is snarky, but I felt that it was hard to watch an hour and a half of ugly monsters that had no few redeeming qualities.

Lastly, is the issue of turning a twenty page picture book (in which over ten of the pages are strictly pictures) into an hour and a half movie. A large portion of the movie consisted of distant stares between the characters and long pauses in which the characters appeared to be reflecting on something. These scenes do not add depth to the movie nor did they move the plot along. Still, they were not cut from the film. The movie was laden with these scenes which in turn made the viewers bored.

Though the reviews on this film have been mostly positive, I have to disagree with that assessment. I found this movie to be an epic disappointment. The filming, story line, and acting were all of lesser quality than I had expected. The costumes were the movie's only saving grace, however, these even become tiresome after a while. Overall, I came to realize why the book has been in publication for almost 50 years and there has never been an attempt to turn it into a movie. The reason being that the proper medium for this tale is a picturebook and not a major motion picture. The story and its characters do not translate well to the silver screen.

-DLP