There have been, to my estimation, far too many feature length movies, both live action and animated, based on the books of Dr. Seuss. I like Dr. Seuss books (as much as I like any books written for small children), but they aren’t exactly sprawling works of literature. Turning any book with maybe 30 pages of story into a full-length movie is generally a terrible idea, especially if the way it is done is to add a lot of slapstick, gross-out humor, and pop culture references that will age the movie badly.
So, why watch the live action adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are? Simple: just a cursory glance at the movie told me that none of the things that bother me about the Seuss adaptations (to say nothing of other beloved children’s classics) occurred with this work.
After all, what is the plot to Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are? A boy named Max, wearing his wolf pajamas, somehow ends up on an island inhabited by the giant, monstrous “wild things,” they give him a crown, play a bit, and then he goes home, the whole thing most likely a dream. How would someone turn that into a movie? The short answer is for director Spike Jonze, working with a story he co-wrote with writer Dave Eggers, and with Sendak’s approval, focused on who Max was and why he, himself, was a “wild thing”. Before the title even flashes, we see Max in his wolf pajamas chasing the family dog through the house, a fork in hand, before tackling what looks like a terrified pet. Max, the whole time, is making wild animal noises, and as a dog-lover, I am already a little disturbed.
That, basically, is Max. We see he’s a bit lonely. His father is dead. His mother (Catherine Keener) does play with him sometimes, but she also busy at others. She even has a boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo). Max’s sister is a bit older and wants nothing to do with him because she’s a teenager and Max still acts like a little boy. When Max doesn’t get his way, he tends to lash out destructively. Before making a run for it while his mom is entertaining her boyfriend, he actually bites his mother before running out into the night, finding a boat, and ending up on the island of the Wild Things.
The Wild Things are a rather impressive bunch of creatures. They look for the most part like theme park costumed mascots while having very expressive CGI faces and looking much like Sendak’s illustrations while also having the voices of recognizable actors, most notably the late James Gandolfini as Carol, a Wild Thing with destructive tendencies similar to Max’s own. Max spins some wild story about being a king from a distant land with magical powers that the Wild Things all seem to believe, making him their king as he leads them through various childish activities, including a dirt fight that causes at least one Wild Thing to leave crying. Eventually, Max is found out, but after some bluster from Carol, he simply gets back on the boat and sails home with the Wild Things howling a goodbye. He then goes home to his anxious mother, gets some cake and soup, and the movie ends.
So, what was all that? The obvious thing to note is Max’s general immaturity. If anything, the various Wild Things all react in ways similar to the way Max does. Carol is the one who destroys things when he’s mad for no clear reason. The others show signs of wanting to be alone, timidity, bossiness, and other traits Max demonstrates at various points in the movie. It is through seeing the Wild Things and their own behavior, especially as explained by loner K.W. (Lauren Ambrose) that Max sees how awful he’s been treating his own mother.
The movie, as a result, doesn’t seem to be much of a kids movie despite being based on a kid’s book. Like the Pixar flick Inside Out, Where the Wild Things Are is probably more for parents than children, or at least adults. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the movie that a kid couldn’t watch it. I just don’t see a kid much enjoying it the way their parents might since the movie is ultimately about Max growing up a bit. If his behavior at the beginning of the movie seems too immature for his age, there’s a good reason for that as he’s at a crossroads. We all reach those points sooner or later. The only real difference is Max is going through it before our eyes, going through a rough time with the death of his father (whenever that was) while his mother and his sister to a lesser extent are moving on with their lives. Growing up is hard. For Max, he’s making the first steps he probably didn’t want to but very much needed to take.
Grade: A-
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