Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are depicts the famous and immortal classic children’s book by Maurice Sendak. Being that the book is rather succinct in pages and words, director Spike Jonze expands on it using his fabulous imagination. The movie begins showing Max, the protagonist, displaying some of his unique characteristics. Max he is very imaginative but also has a lot of anger. One night Max and his single mother get into a fight and Max runs away. After a tumultuous journey across the sea, Max reaches the island of where the wild things roam. He is soon after made their king and then “the wild rumpus” began. Through different experiences and occurrences we see the development of Max as a character as well as the monsters under his rule. The island and the wild things greatly resemble Max’s thoughts and life in the real world. Jonze chooses to make a serious movie rather than a light children’s film. He succeeds in bringing out the kid side of you but also makes you think. As Andrew Rosenfeld said, “I just couldn’t stop smiling throughout the movie.” The voice work and costumes were superb. Max (Max Records) was wonderful. Well directed and an overall good movie.