I just saw the movie tonight and I very much enjoyed it. I thought everything from the script to the cinematography to the music (Karen O was a PERFECT choice), everything fit together really beautifully. However, I was never in love with the book. It was something I was familiar with and I remember seeing it or reading it as a kid, but I never had a huge attachment to the book. I remember the illustrations quite vividly and the look of the beasts was completely spot on. This is probably one of the better movies I've seen in a while.
@TiniDarling: Sometimes, for me, the music was a distraction rather than an enhancement, like it could have been scaled back a little bit. But otherwise, understanding that this is not MY film and Jonze has no responsibility to me personally, this film was amazing. I think I'm going to be thinking about it for days. Weeks even. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
You know, I don't think my generation is afraid to grow up. I think they just want to avoid the shift that they saw in the generations before, which is the total reversal of values, and insistence on a very narrow and commercial view of what being a grown up is.
I'm a grown up. I'm responsible and capable and mature. I also have toys in my house and watch movies and enjoy many of the types of things I did as a kid...just in a slightly more grown up way.
I don't think it's unfair to have to grow up. I think it's unfair to define growing up in only one limited, sterile, homogenized way. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
I feel like a downer, but I was just beyond disappointed in this movie. I feel like the greatest kids movies are the ones that are delightful for kids and have little subtleties for adults. This takes a book that I loved as a child, that I read to the children I babysit for in order to transfer that delight to them, and turns it in to something for 20 and 30 somethings wearing dark rim glasses and suffering from ennui. It doesn't have that sense of magic and wonder that the book has, and it's far too proud of itself. Whenever I saw the trailer, I used to joke that the movie should be called "Where The Hipsters Are" - but that turned out to be true, at least for me. I think that Salon review gets it right. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@laureltreedaphne: I think the thing to understand is that this is NOT a kids movie. It's a movie about childhood. But it's clearly not aimed at little kids. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@funnyface: I disagree. I took my 5 yr old daughter to see it Friday afternoon and she loved it. I think adults walk into the theatre with too much baggage and spend too much time over-thinking it. Kids are far more thoughtful and intuitive than we think - my kiddo "got" it and even asked me to read the New Yorker review of it on Saturday. Kids might view it on a different level than adults, but to say it's not a kids movie does a disservice to kids. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
I'm so so excited for this movie. The previews give me goosebumps! What a lot of these reviewers fail to admit, either to themselves or to the public, is that we all have a "Max" inside of us. Unless you came from a perfect home where no one fought and everything was peaches and rainbows, you experienced the uniquely prepubescent process of realizing you're no longer small, that you have to take responsibility for yourself, mommy has other things going on in her life besides you, and that your parents aren't actually superheros. Yes, it's a selfish, sulky story, because that phase of growing up isn't pretty. It is scary and uncomfortable. We want to believe that all children are happy and joyful all of the time, but that prepubescent phase is universally difficult. It is at that moment that you are realizing those painful truths enumerated above, but you are not emotionally equipped to deal with them gracefully. That is what the story has always been about to me and what I expect the movie to be, a child's subconscious coping with the trauma of growing up in an imperfect world. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@Beets.Go.On is the Fat Yogini: The first time I saw the proview, I got goosebumps too...and a few tears. I think this movie will amazing & totally agree that many reviewers seem to have missed the boat. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
I'm going to drop my clever shtick and just earnestly say that this film got me (as I'm sure it will get many of you). I was that lonely kid who retreated into her own stories to escape from family and the world at large. I ALWAYS got into trouble at home or at school for acting out my frustration about being trapped in a mundane world that wasn't as fun as the one I could create. And when I hurt, the world had to know it. I haven't change. So the film got me, and I got the film.
I've loved the book ever since I got to play Max in Kindergharten because I was the Actor/Ham of every class. When I grew up a bit I taught it to my Summer Camp Drama students and felt again what it was like to read it for the first time. But to see it alive, and really, truly, gorgeously realized was almost too much (in a heartbursting and overfilled sort of way). I cried out of absolute happiness when the creature started to talk.
Whether this was/is you or not, I'm sure there are a lot of you out there who at least need a good Rumpus! So get out there and see it or I'll eat you up! #wherethewildthingsarereviews
Interesting to see such a striking divide in the reviews. The reviewers feelings about children and what children relate to seem to be the key factor in whether they liked the movie or not.
I was a neurotic little anxiety-ball as a kid. I have a feeling I'll like the movie. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
I saw this movie on Tuesday (press pass), and loved it. When I first heard it was coming out, I was skeptical that it would ever fill the book's very big shoes. But I was simultaneously charmed and humbled. To quote Don Draper, "it makes your heart hurt."
I get the impression that the biggest critics of this movie simply fail to relate to Max on a fundamental level. For me, I can't recall ever watching a movie or show that so acutely reminded me exactly how it felt to be nine.
This movie illustrates a very important crisis that occurs for what I assumed was every child. One day, you realize that your parents are people. You realize the unrealistic expectations you've placed on them, and that you've regarded them as god-like creatures with limitless power and authority.
All at once, Max realizes that his mother and sister are living the same silently dramatic inner struggles that he is, and that their lives are not, in fact, dedicated to his comfort.
Adults that fail to understand that children have this inner turmoil will think this movie is too neurotic for kids. However, more and more of today's children have lived a broad range of difficult experiences: divorce, death, anxiety, insomnia... children are sensitive, perceptive, even obsessive creatures. They will "get" this movie, in that it will affirm their inner monologue and make them feel like part of a community--even if they can't put this into words. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@Schrodinger's Cat: Well said. And while I agree that a lot of kids are way ahead of their peers and will understand this film to its core, there is a part of me that feels that there will be many who will see this film years later and understand it, maybe not better, but in a new visceral way. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@TransFat: Absolutely--the core audience is surely adults who connected with the book as children, which skews to the more "ahead" child, I suppose. And the movie probably does resonate better with someone who has already experienced childhood, and knew that s/he felt marginalized/anxious and can express that.
It would surprise me if anybody that contributes or comments on this site in a meaningful way would fail to connect with this movie on some level. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@Schrodinger's Cat: There are those who will and then (and I'm really trying not to generalize because this isn't a prerequisite to enjoy the film) there will be some who had a really blissful childhood and may not connect.
I loved it with so much of my heart that I'm trying not to bludgeon people with it, especially if they refuse to see it. Like I said above about not really changing from when I was a kid. Even though I had no hand in the creation of the film, I feel like I'm Max yelling at his Mom to come see his fort because he KNOWS it would make her happy because he's so happy with it. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@funnyface: Well, Thank you! I'm definitely a Spike Jonze fan. This movie may even be better than his music video for Fatboy Slim. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@bellhop68: I'm sure you're right. Some things just aren't for everyone and that doesn't make them bad, but just not your bag. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
I actually think the real problem is that most adults forget what it's like to be nine. We don't give kids enough credit and assume they don't understand life issues simply because they don't understand sexual ones. When my parents got a divorce, my brother (9 years younger and 8 at the time) confided some very adult feelings to me about life and how he just wanted it to go back to how it was when he was five years old. It was heartbreaking. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
I think I might fidget through this movie. The trailer and reviews remind me of What Dreams May Come, a Robin Williams movie from 1998. It was creative and filled with interesting imagery, but the film's idea of beauty and heaven left me cold and creeped-out. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
The WSJ is continuing its decline. To call Where The Wild Things Are "plotless" displays them as the unseen, non-comprehending adults that Max (and all little kids) create imaginary kingdoms full of rumpus to deal with when they're pissed off.
I supremely enjoyed Being John Malkovich but when I found out that this movie was being made, I made a pact with myself saying that I would under no circumstances see this movie. No. Circumstances. I grew up reading that book and I'm positive this film will taint my memories. I stand by my choice. It looks like an obnoxious movie that I'm sure I'll hear enough about from the irritating AmericanApparel-clad masses surrounding me. I repeat: NO THANK YOU #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@JessickerFletcher: Uh oh. Obviously that normally makes sense, but be careful. I saw the Bridge to Terabithia trailer and thought it was going to be the worst movie ever made. A friend made me watch it and I realized that the movie was PERFECT and precisely captured the book. The trailer was just terrible. I was so mad that I didn't see it when it came out in theaters. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@JessickerFletcher: It's too bad that you've dismissed it so quickly. I thought it was a lovely homage to the book. Anyone who is such a fan of the original work would benefit from forming her own opinion of the movie. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@JessickerFletcher: Well, I'm wearing AA shorts at work right now, mostly because all my clothes were gratis from friends that work there in corporate. So while I feel my opinion will now be devalued in your eyes, I hope your resolve weakens just a tad. If I could share how I felt during this film with you or anyone (because I'm POSITIVE it's not for everyone) I think you'd get on the nearest sailboat. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@TransFat: To be fair, I'm wearing an AA hoodie and I'm almost constantly a hypocrite - esp. when it comes to AA because I wear their clothes often. Still, I'm sticking to my guns. I admit, the trailer looks good and everything (albeit it looks like a children's Urban Outfitters ad) but this film will obviously make many departures from the book (which is only 10 sentences, mind you). Also, the film looks about as much fun as the Squid and the Whale. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@rentkyo: One of my friends make this exact argument last week (concerning Bridge to Terabithia too). While I love certain literary film adaptations, I personally subscribe to the "books are better than movies" ideology. I hate it when greedy production studios take a classic and dumb it down for a national audience. I also hate it when people start referring to the movie more than the book. Since Where the Wild Things Are is an extremely short children's book there are gonna be so many expansions, shifts, and major changes that the film will probably be unrecognizable. One more thing, I uphold that every single film based on a novel overstates and exaggerates the major allegories, metaphors, or symbols. And I hate being continually hit over the head with rhetorical devices that were meant to be subtle. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@JessickerFletcher: I would disagree with your last statement, that all adaptations overstate things. The adaptations of Dolores Claiborne, Stand By Me, Fight Club and even LOTR manage to maintain all the complexities and subtleties of the works...while still making the largely successful transition from one storytelling medium to another.
Some, of course, don't do this. And we all have adaptations we just can't see being as good. Which in some cases is true, and in other cases is really just our own preferences for storytelling mediums, or how we feel about adaptations.
The reality is, film is not prose. It can't handle the story the same way and shouldn't be expected to. This adaptation can't, in any way, be the book, or even replace the book. But it can take that core story and translate it to film. If it works for the individual will, of course, be individual.
To me, the test of an adaptation is not in how closely it resembles the original in terms of literal adaptation...but how closely it captures the themes and -feelings- of the original work. LOTR makes some huge deviations, but the core of that world, and that story, is there in, for me at least, a breathtakingly beautiful new form. It hasn't changed or replaced the books for me...it simply gave me a new medium to enjoy and connect to them in as well.
None of this is to say you shouldn't see it if you don't want to...but no adaption can ruin something you love. It doesn't make the book cease to exist, or be any less beautiful than the first time you read it. And it might, it just might, show you other things to love, too. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@JessickerFletcher: I think it's impossible to "ruin" this book. It's only 10 sentences long. The most stand-out thing about it is its visual world, and that aspect Jonze knocks outta the park. Beyond that, it's practically a completely new story which just happens to be set in the same visual world. But it's obviously your choice rather to see it or not. I'm just a super book nerd who normally hates film adaptations (though I see them anyway and just choose to cling to my view of the work rather than the filmmaker's), who thought this one was well done. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
I'm not really surprised that this generation is scared to grow up. The baby boomers may have coined "i hope i die before I get old," but then they didn't die, and seemed to forget everything they claimed they believed in. Maybe "i hope i die before I forget all of my ideals and innocence" could be the new banner. I guess it's kinda long. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@judgingnora: I think part of this problem is the other side of it. Kids of boomers (and I am one myself) refusing to understand that their parents are humans, and that your ideals can change and that doesn't make you a bad person, it means you've grown.
And think about it, would YOU want to be held to the ideals you had about life that you came up with in your teens and early 20's? I'm only 22 now, but god, I hope getting laid, and raving aren't still my top two priorities at 30. But I hope creating a PLUR community is. So while the outside will be different, I hope the core will be the same.
I think saying it's the boomers fault is too easy. It also has to do with the freedom the pill has given people (to not be forced to grow up by marriage and a baby when you can't wait for sex any longer), and the fact that the media is constantly screaming at us that getting old is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone ever. They all feed into each other. Boomer culture plays a part, but it's not all their fault. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
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@Lizard in the Wires is on Rails: I agree it's not all their fault, considering how complicated everything is, but who has controlled the media that keeps saying that getting old is the worst thing ever? The boomers.
Who taught us that putting off a family was a good idea, instead of putting up a huge fight to expand maternity leave? The boomers. And their high divorce rate. And their TV shows about successful women who can't have it all.
And the worst thing they ever did was convince everyone was that their way was sooooo cool.
Raving and getting laid might not be my top priorities when I'm 30, but I hope to Athena that my belief that all humans are equal and that money isn't everything never ever changes. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@judgingnora: I think you can't treat them as a monolith. I know boomers who are actively trying to fight the idea that aging is bad. The place that I work for now encourages youth to work with elders, and to see them, and respect them as community elders.
Most people don't agree with that sort of advertising. It's like saying since Cosmo is mostly edited by and written by women that it's our own fault that it spews anti-feminist ideals.
They tried. They didn't know what putting off having a family would do, because no one had ever really done it before. They didn't know what trying to "have it all" would lead to. Now as genxers and yers we're allowed to look at their choices and decide what we want.
And not all boomers were hippies or progressive. A decent portion of them never believed that humans were all equal and that money wasn't everything. That portion just gets talked about the most. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@lolabee: Wonderfully insightful! And that is why I adore Dave Eggers - he does it genuinely and delightfully - I think you'll like the movie; I did! #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@Mama Penguino: i did see it and, you know, i'm torn. thought the imagery was beautiful- physically, the wild things were exactly as i imagined they should be.
but... i just didn't get why the monsters (who are figments of max's imagination) were so neurotic and depressed. their statements about "keeping the sadness out" were so odd to me, they were hinting at some kind of depth or grand realization that wasn't really there.
in my humble opinion, i think the movie would have been better if max's imaginary interactions with the wild things were interspersed with scenes from real life.
i don't know, for me, the book was about offering refuge- a routine function of one's imagination. a place where things are as you want them to be/wish they could be but can't. it didn't ring true for max's imaginary friends to be so unstable and obnoxious. they seemed to be more from the imagination of woody allen.
also, if i had a child, i would have been angry. i definitely believe this movie is too scary for small children- (spoiler alert) for gosh sakes, carol attacks max! #wherethewildthingsarereviews
@lolabee: I agree with most of what you've said here. My only parting of the ways with you would be that each one of us interprets who and what the wild things are, or are meant to be, so I think portraying them to be neurotic and sad is as acceptable as anything else.
I was worried about the violence, too, but Little Penguino seemed to understand that it was about emotions. I think kids understand that feeling of wanting to destroy things or getting so angry you want to hit someone as a way to release your feelings. It certainly wasn't any more violent than Toy Story or Cinderella. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/17/09
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10/16/09
I'm a grown up. I'm responsible and capable and mature. I also have toys in my house and watch movies and enjoy many of the types of things I did as a kid...just in a slightly more grown up way.
I don't think it's unfair to have to grow up. I think it's unfair to define growing up in only one limited, sterile, homogenized way. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
10/19/09
10/19/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
I've loved the book ever since I got to play Max in Kindergharten because I was the Actor/Ham of every class. When I grew up a bit I taught it to my Summer Camp Drama students and felt again what it was like to read it for the first time. But to see it alive, and really, truly, gorgeously realized was almost too much (in a heartbursting and overfilled sort of way). I cried out of absolute happiness when the creature started to talk.
Whether this was/is you or not, I'm sure there are a lot of you out there who at least need a good Rumpus! So get out there and see it or I'll eat you up! #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
"I thought I was a good kid! Why did I do that?! Am I really a bad kid after all?!!?" #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
I was a neurotic little anxiety-ball as a kid. I have a feeling I'll like the movie. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
I get the impression that the biggest critics of this movie simply fail to relate to Max on a fundamental level. For me, I can't recall ever watching a movie or show that so acutely reminded me exactly how it felt to be nine.
This movie illustrates a very important crisis that occurs for what I assumed was every child. One day, you realize that your parents are people. You realize the unrealistic expectations you've placed on them, and that you've regarded them as god-like creatures with limitless power and authority.
All at once, Max realizes that his mother and sister are living the same silently dramatic inner struggles that he is, and that their lives are not, in fact, dedicated to his comfort.
Adults that fail to understand that children have this inner turmoil will think this movie is too neurotic for kids. However, more and more of today's children have lived a broad range of difficult experiences: divorce, death, anxiety, insomnia... children are sensitive, perceptive, even obsessive creatures. They will "get" this movie, in that it will affirm their inner monologue and make them feel like part of a community--even if they can't put this into words. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
10/16/09
It would surprise me if anybody that contributes or comments on this site in a meaningful way would fail to connect with this movie on some level. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
I loved it with so much of my heart that I'm trying not to bludgeon people with it, especially if they refuse to see it. Like I said above about not really changing from when I was a kid. Even though I had no hand in the creation of the film, I feel like I'm Max yelling at his Mom to come see his fort because he KNOWS it would make her happy because he's so happy with it. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/19/09
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10/16/09
Let the wild rumpus begin. Pbbbt. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
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Some, of course, don't do this. And we all have adaptations we just can't see being as good. Which in some cases is true, and in other cases is really just our own preferences for storytelling mediums, or how we feel about adaptations.
The reality is, film is not prose. It can't handle the story the same way and shouldn't be expected to. This adaptation can't, in any way, be the book, or even replace the book. But it can take that core story and translate it to film. If it works for the individual will, of course, be individual.
To me, the test of an adaptation is not in how closely it resembles the original in terms of literal adaptation...but how closely it captures the themes and -feelings- of the original work. LOTR makes some huge deviations, but the core of that world, and that story, is there in, for me at least, a breathtakingly beautiful new form. It hasn't changed or replaced the books for me...it simply gave me a new medium to enjoy and connect to them in as well.
None of this is to say you shouldn't see it if you don't want to...but no adaption can ruin something you love. It doesn't make the book cease to exist, or be any less beautiful than the first time you read it. And it might, it just might, show you other things to love, too. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/19/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
"I hope i die before I forget.....wait, what was I saying?"
hmmm no, that is equally as laborious. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
And think about it, would YOU want to be held to the ideals you had about life that you came up with in your teens and early 20's? I'm only 22 now, but god, I hope getting laid, and raving aren't still my top two priorities at 30. But I hope creating a PLUR community is. So while the outside will be different, I hope the core will be the same.
I think saying it's the boomers fault is too easy. It also has to do with the freedom the pill has given people (to not be forced to grow up by marriage and a baby when you can't wait for sex any longer), and the fact that the media is constantly screaming at us that getting old is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone ever. They all feed into each other. Boomer culture plays a part, but it's not all their fault. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
10/16/09
Who taught us that putting off a family was a good idea, instead of putting up a huge fight to expand maternity leave? The boomers. And their high divorce rate. And their TV shows about successful women who can't have it all.
And the worst thing they ever did was convince everyone was that their way was sooooo cool.
Raving and getting laid might not be my top priorities when I'm 30, but I hope to Athena that my belief that all humans are equal and that money isn't everything never ever changes. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
10/16/09
Most people don't agree with that sort of advertising. It's like saying since Cosmo is mostly edited by and written by women that it's our own fault that it spews anti-feminist ideals.
They tried. They didn't know what putting off having a family would do, because no one had ever really done it before. They didn't know what trying to "have it all" would lead to. Now as genxers and yers we're allowed to look at their choices and decide what we want.
And not all boomers were hippies or progressive. A decent portion of them never believed that humans were all equal and that money wasn't everything. That portion just gets talked about the most. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/16/09
still, good or bad, this must is a must-see for me. #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/19/09
10/19/09
but... i just didn't get why the monsters (who are figments of max's imagination) were so neurotic and depressed. their statements about "keeping the sadness out" were so odd to me, they were hinting at some kind of depth or grand realization that wasn't really there.
in my humble opinion, i think the movie would have been better if max's imaginary interactions with the wild things were interspersed with scenes from real life.
i don't know, for me, the book was about offering refuge- a routine function of one's imagination. a place where things are as you want them to be/wish they could be but can't. it didn't ring true for max's imaginary friends to be so unstable and obnoxious. they seemed to be more from the imagination of woody allen.
also, if i had a child, i would have been angry. i definitely believe this movie is too scary for small children- (spoiler alert) for gosh sakes, carol attacks max! #wherethewildthingsarereviews
10/19/09
I was worried about the violence, too, but Little Penguino seemed to understand that it was about emotions. I think kids understand that feeling of wanting to destroy things or getting so angry you want to hit someone as a way to release your feelings. It certainly wasn't any more violent than Toy Story or Cinderella. #wherethewildthingsarereviews