Where the WIld Things Are

Impressions before seeing it
I don't remember at all what the original book was like. It's probably been like 15 years or something since I last read it. But I remembered its existence and what the monsters in the pictures looked like, and that drawing style translated quite well to the big screen. Also it's directed by Spike Jonze and that dude has made a few movies I really like.

How was it?
You know what, for a movie adapted from a children's book it didn't even feel like a children's movie. I mean the main character is a kid, yes, and the story is from his point of view, and probably does one of the best jobs I've seen of capturing what it's like to be a kid at play, but I still stand by my original statement.

To me it looks like something that would probably bore the pants off an 8 year-old. While there are certainly some fun scenes, there are just as many where the monsters stand around talking, and while I myself had no problem with that, I know it's not something kids want to see. But then this movie can also be dark and even violent at times, so I suppose it wasn't intended for the young.

Which brings me to my main point: Where the Wild Things Are is actually kind of deep. Max has a bit of a fallout with his family so he escapes to the land of monsters, where the characters and events that take place there draw striking parallels to the characters and events that took place in his own land at the beginning of the movie. As I watched I was actually trying to figure out which monsters represented which people in Max's life, and I think I got a few of them. At one point we even see a giant dog that is the same breed as Max's. I think all of the resemblances prove the monsters to be in Max's imagination, although it isn't officially confirmed in the movie.

And then on top of that we have Max playing king of the monsters. Everything is good at first until he realizes what it's like to be a leader. The monsters criticize him, accuse him of playing favourites, keeping secrets, making bad decisions, etc. Oops, while he was playing he accidentally found out how hard it was to be a grownup! But he needed that lesson. Max is a kid with a big imagination, and at first it seemed like no one understood him because they were too old, but maybe it's that he didn't understand them because he was too young. I don't think I'm doing it justice but if you think about these things while you watch, you'll come to see how this movie is too smart for children. And kudos to that kid for carrying literally every damned scene of the movie, great performance for a child actor!

Recommendation
I loved it without knowing (i.e. remembering) the original story, but I have no idea what someone else's take might be. As much as I enjoyed it I could also see someone hating it for being... slow and dramatic, perhaps. Or not true to the book, if that is the case. But I found it fun and thought-provoking in any case.