Movie Summary of Where The WIld Things Are by Michael the Moviegoer.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE = ***
“Little Story – Big Movie”
A classic children’s book with fewer than 350 words in it is now a 100-minute children’s movie by Spike Jonze called “Where The Wild Things Are”. But after his film “Being John Malkovich” nothing Jonze does seems too strange anymore.
New child star Max Records gives one of the finest performances I’ve ever seen by a child. He is the heart of this movie. But his character is a spoiled brat. He loves to cause a “wild rumpus” everywhere he goes. His mom, played by Catherine Keener, should consider sending him off to bording school, but instead rewards him with chocolate cake for running away.
Clearly this movie is made for children, and Jonze does a great job in capturing the imagination of a child. The bulk of the film takes place in Max’s fantasy world filled with weird, cuddly, larger-than-life CGI creatures on some remote island with desert sand dunes and a forest.
The movie is bookended by real-life situations that forshadow many of the events in Max’s fantasy, much like “The Wizard Of Oz” does. But in ‘Oz’ the best parts of the movie are in Dorothy’s colorful dreamworld, not the black-and-white farm life that bookends the picture. With ‘Wild Things’ I found myself more interested in Max’s real-life and not so much by his absurd fantasy life.
Still, I applaud Jonze’s effort to make a film for children that is not dumbed down like so many other kids films are. There are some genuinely scary moments. So? Why shouldn’t today’s children experience something that frightens them in a movie? When I was a kid, I was terrified of the child-catcher in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. It’s part of the fun. Kids aren’t as dumb as most movies make them out to be. Spike Jonze has given them a gift of a movie that they can now call their own. The only reason adults might not want their kids to see ‘Wild Things’ is that it shows Max getting away with anything he wants. A real spoiled brat.
DVD Double Feature: There was a popular Saturday morning TV show in the 70s called “H.R. Pufnstuf” in which a young boy, Jack Wild, sails off in a magic boat to Living Island, a fantasy land filled with talking trees, friendly dragons, wacky witches and a talking golden flute. The TV show was so popular it was turned into a feature film called “Pufnstuf” which has just been made available on DVD. The book of “Where The Wild Things Are” was published in 1963. After seeing the film, I wonder if any of “Pufnstuf” was influenced by it.
Michael The Moviegoer
