"Where the Wild Things Are" Review

Well, as it turned out, I did get to go see this movie the other day. Of the drumline, Joe and David showed up, as well as some other random people from color-guard/marching band.

The film was really well done; this cannot be denied. It had striking graphics and some of the filming perspectives made it simply beautiful - and it had a cool soundtrack. It was filmed in a way that would appeal to an artsy college generation that has an appreciation for indie films - not particularly the generation of little kids that it was intended for.

Also, the beginning scenes where Max is living in the real world were extremely realistic; the loneliness of childhood strikes you as you watch him try to engage first his sister, then his mother, in his childish activities to no avail. Again, these scenes in particular are filmed in an artsy sort of way that struck me immediately, almost like they were trying to give the impression of filming a documentary, the way one scene slid into the next.

The next thing that struck me about the film was its deeper interpretation of Max's reasons for his "escape" into the land of the wild things. A pivotal scene in the movie that can almost be overlooked takes place in Max's science classroom, where the teacher matter-of-factly informs the small children about how the sun will eventually die, expand, and swallow the world as they know it. Here, I thought, "You stupid science teacher. Why did you just tell the 7-and-8-year-olds about the sun dying?" And also, I thought of all of the four-and-five-year-olds in the rows in front of me, tugging at the sleeves of their parents and asking, "Mommy, is it true that the sun is going to die?" This theme of death is repeated a few times in the movie - one of the more important moments being when Max is conversing with one of the wild things, Carol. He asks Carol, "Did you know that the sun was going to die?" to which Carol responds first with shock, before shaking his head and saying, "But you're the king, and I'm big. So why should we worry about something so little as the sun?" Which I thought was a clever way to say, "Why worry about death or the end of the world when it seems so far away?" It was a clever way to show the denial that people are in.

The other major theme of this movie was loneliness, which appeared in Max's childhood and the love dilemmna between two of the other main characters, Carol and KJ. The latter conflict is never resolved, and Max leaves the island with the arguments between the beasts still intact and - again - unresolved.

So overall, it seemed like they were trying to convey the message that once you leave childhood behind and discover the horrors of the world you were sheltered from, it only complicates things to attempt to retreat back into the shelter of childhood; you'll only find the same complications manifested there, as if they had existed all along.