"Where the Wild Things Are" was my favorite book when I was growing up. I envied Max for his super cool Wild Thing outfit. When my inner wild thing wreaked havoc I was sent to my room too-and I escaped into imagination and far away places as well. Maurice Sendak created the perfect fantasy world of monsters and adventure. And then Max returned home safe and sound.
But the movie, "Where the Wild Things Are" was not about that childhood escape into a friendly fantasy land. The movie was a vehicle for adult writers and producers to make peace with whatever demons they struggled with as a child. The only resemblance of the movie to the book was the creation of the monsters. I loved how they brought the monsters to life. I loved the names and the personalities, but I hated the crappy adult conflict they injected into the movie. This is not a kid's movie. It was not made for kids and it wouldn't make any sense to kids. The best thing about this movie was the soundtrack.
Okay, why the movie review? Well, I've been totally excited about the movie since seeing the first promo poster for it. I still have my original copy of the book, I have the t-shirt, I even have some of the stuffed animals. Maurice Sendak's book was genius. I related to Max. Whenever my wild side comes out I try to do it with the same reckless abandon as Max and the Wild Things. I expected the movie to reinforce how important occasional wildness can be. The movie made wildness seem wrong, childish and utterly immature. The movie seemed to cheat the book out of it's magic. I think that's crap. No more Spike Jonze for me!!
And this completes my diatribe on Where the Wild Things are.
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