Well, I saw it.
I have to give myself a round of applause. I managed to make it all the way through “Where the Wild Things Are” without running out in sheer terror! However I will say that tears were shed, but not the frightful kind.
First of all, the film is 100% beautiful. There isn’t one thing that doesn’t completely capture the view of the audience. Beautiful imagery filled our IMAX screen; at times it was hard to decide what to focus on. The movie is also intriguing in this aspect – I love how they used actual Jim Henson puppets instead of doing the whole CGI thing (although some of the “things'” facial expressions were perfected with that technology).
I’ve never read the book so I didn’t quite know how much it paralleled, however, I’m assuming since it is only 10 pages that Spike Jonze had a lot of “pages” to fill with the script. The thing is is that the script is absolutely GENIUS because not one line of dialogue doesn’t have a symbolic meaning. Everything has some kind of a connection, whether it affects your heart or your mind is for you to decide. Nothing within the film is over anyone’s head – the verbiage and vocabulary is that of, well, a nine-year-old, however that brings so much more to the movie that an overly-compensated script.
I guess that is why I was holding back tears only five minutes into the movie. Something pulled at my heartstrings watching Max act as a boy usually does at that age. He reminded me a lot of my little brother when he was younger; creating, exploring, imagining. It killed me to see how he was treated, knowing that boys that young need to be nurtured and cultivated, not ignored.
“How can guys like us worry about something a small as the sun?”
Such a powerful line from the movie. Puts a lot of things in perspective, don’t you think? In my opinion, it was almost an exhausting film. I was spending the whole time trying not to cry from well, everything (the visual and emotional aspects) and my emotions and reactions would alter from laughing, feeling empathy, feeling sympathy, feeling guilt, being concerned, worried, anxious, relieved, happy, content, then sad, scared, hurt, terrified and delighted until it repeated. Truly, all of those emotions were lived out.
I loved how Max, a young boy, was able to conquer such massive heights in his own world, something that even adults tend to lose grip on in the real world. He could escape and would stand up to things that frankly should scare the crap out of him, however he was able to somehow turn things around and accomplish so much. It was very much a real film in the sense that he was a young boy and something as small as not liking frozen corn could send him on a spree of inappropriate behavior.
The best part of the movie had to be how each “thing” represented a different side of everyone. There wasn’t one “thing” – Carol, KW, Ira, Judith, Alex, Douglas, even the bull – that the audience couldn’t relate to or at least say that they felt at least once. I know sometimes I feel like I’m talking and nobody is listening. Literally. I can ask a question and people have the audacity to not answer. It’s sad and I really empathized with Alex on that one. Also, you know the times you get so mad and upset you really want to make a point, but you won’t really, but you at least want other people to think you would actually carry out what you say you will? How about when you would do anything for anyone because you loved them so much? Or at that moment when you’re so happy to be with people that you can’t do anything or say anything to express it… the only thing that would do your feelings justice would be to let our a big howl? If you’ve been let down, wondering why you weren’t protected or why nobody is on your side, why things aren’t working out how you had planned or envisioned; why people continue to hurt you when you’re already hurt or why people can’t just take a joke.
Looky there. I went into a movie I was petrified to see and now it’s going to be something I treasure forever. Now I just need to get my hands on a copy of the book.
Kirbie Johnson 