Friday at the Movies: Where the Wild Things Are

This is the first of what I hope to be a series of blogs on Fridays about movies. Today I went to see Spike Jonze’s vision of Where the Wild Things Are. I must admit great anticipation on my part. Spike Jonze is not for everybody (know as the director of the art house films BeingJohn Malkovich and Adaptation) but I really appreciate him as a director. Also, Where the Wild Things Are was not only my favorite book from childhood, its author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, was an inspiration to me as an artist. His strange and sometimes dark tales and distinctive artistic style captivates me even as an adult. So… expectations were high.

I must tell you that if you are looking for a movie to take your children to, this is not it. Not that its subject matter is simply too adult or too violent (as so many movies marketed towards teenagers are), but it is… scary. Scary in the way a child sees things as scary. When things seem uncertain… when people you trust first let you down… when you’re so upset you feel out of control… that kind of scary. The movie captures well how we as adults miss how helpless and frightened our children feel as we weather the trials of life. This movie was for me as a parent to see my own trials through my children’s eyes. And it was unsettling.

The movie creates a much more developed context for the main character, Max, than is present in the original children’s book and some might get frustrated with the liberties taken (Max’s mother is divorced and has a romantic interest at the house for dinner, Max has a disinterested teenage sister and Max runs away when he is angrily ordered to his room), but I think it depicts well a common family in the United States today. It also sets up quite well the somewhat confusing emotional journey Max makes to the island of the Wild Things.

The movie isn’t perfect. It seems to lose focus towards the middle as all the Wild Things seem to have there own issues and perhaps are playing out different aspects of Max’s own psyche. There are some honestly scary moments as one of the Wild Things truly seems out of control with anger and disappoint. But the masterful rendering of the Wild Things as well as their character development and the layers of symbolism present make this an enjoyable film. What I liked most about it is that it shows the value of true affection even when people do dumb things in relationships. “Love covers all wrongs” Prov. 10:12.

If you are looking for the next Cars or Finding Nemo, this is not your movie. If you like quirky films that try to peel back the layers of our confused hearts to get to the root of a matter, go see Where the Wild Things Are. You'll appreciate the ride.