Movie Review: Where the Wild Things Are: child-friendly hit or miss?

By: Christy Fayette & Alyson Levitz-Jones

Posted: 11/10/09

"Where the Wild Things Are" follows the all-too-familiar scenario of a classic children's book turned into a movie. But before you continue along that path of assumption-the one that presumes that if you read the book you will not like nor have to see the movie and vice versa-think again; not only are the Wild Things a fascinating and entertaining gang, but the movie encompasses a multitude of emotions that go beyond the nostalgia of revisiting a favorite childhood read.

The film introduces the Wild Things as friends who enjoy beating up on each other and find camaraderie over breaking things. The protagonist of the film, Max, is a mischievous child who finds himself crowned king in the imagined land of the wild after fleeing his emotional struggles in the real world, particularly his feelings of loneliness as his mother goes on dates and his older sister grows perpetually "too cool" for him. For the duration of the movie, Max and his Wild Things go around conversing about life while bonding over violent fun, such as throwing things at each other. The audience is quick to discover Max's behavior as therapeutic as he outlashes his pain, anger and sadness through physical violence.

On the outside, the clan of Wild Things seem simplistic and to care solely about causing trouble, but Max finds out that they too are battling deeper, personal issues which are similar to Max's emotional turmoils. At this point in the movie and throughout the beginning home scenes, viewers see the thematic elements that make Where the Wild Things Are a film with ideas not entirely understood by young children and ones that go beyond the light-hearted mood of the book.

At times the film is tense and emotional, yet it does not dwell on the sadness for too long. A good portion of the middle of the movie is just the Wild Things being, well, wild. Watching the film, especially during its light-hearted parts, is a great way to kick back and escape to the carefree side of life, where there are no consequences for punching a hole in the side of someone's hut.

The film has been a topic of conversation for many people, especially among students our age. Where the Wild Things Are is obviously something close to our hearts-a handful of Denison and other college students even dressed up as Wild Things over the Halloween weekend. But beyond our (and some of our parent's) nostalgic ties to the book, people our age can connect so well to the film because it addresses common familial matters that many of us experienced growing up; seeing the effects of such family struggles on Max is something to which we can relate. Max is someone we can, and do, root for as he discovers that violence isn't the solution to his problems.

The picture book's 40-plus years shelf-life has probed the dilemna of whether or not Where the Wild Things Are is a children's movie. At face value, the majority of the film fits the categorization of a child-friendly movie (cute, furry creatures befriend a young boy as they proceed to play in and dictate an imaginary world). Some have been hesitant to label it as such, though, not only because of the parts of the movie that tug at the viewer's heart strings, but because of the fact that the feelings and conflicts of these imaginary creatures living in their imaginary world are, in fact, very much real.

Conclusively, Where the Wild Things Are is a great movie to see with kids; its presentation of the classic childhood book goes a step beyond the simple, carefree life of an imaginative boy by instead delving into the frustration that all children feel at some point in their lives. The film gives its older viewers a chance to relish in the past as it presents its younger viewers with subtle life-lessons.

Where the Wild Things Are is a delightful movie that is the perfect escape mechanism for our generation to get back into the imaginative mindset of a child without forgetting the often harsh realities of the real world.