Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are is a classic children's book by Maurice Sendak. I grew up with it as have millions of people across the world. Not going to lie the book terrified me and I hated the pictures of all the grotesque monsters. But hey, I was like 5 years old. When I heard about it being adapted to film I was pretty excited to see it. So on a Friday night I went and faced my fears over the Wild Things.

It is a story about a boy named Max who runs away from his home and goes off to a far off land. There he encounters the Wild Things and to keep them from eating him alive, he convinces them that he has special powers and they then proclaim as king. He promises to group to keep out all the sadness with his special shield and they all become civilized under Max's direction. They build a fort for all of them to live in but eventually things become tense. Max then realizes he is not a king at all, just a young boy who belongs at home with his mother.

Surprisingly this movie was directed by Spike Jonze who is the writer and producer of Jackass. Luckily he was under the guidance by producer Tom Hanks and they really pulled off a great movie. There aren't any familiar faces other than Max's mom (Catherine Keener who starred in 40 Year Old Virgin) because they are only 3 human characters. None of the voice actors are that well-known either, save Forrest Whittacre. He is joined by James Gandolfini, Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), Catherine O'Hara, Michael Berry Jr., and Chris Cooper plus a raccoon named Richard who was responsible for many of my random laughs through the movie.

As far as children's movies go, I wouldn't take anyone under the age of 8 to it. It's not as simple as a 50 page children's book would suggest. I have the feeling that watching this when I was 5 would of made me even more terrified. But as a 20 year old, I was highly entertained the whole time. Its very uniquely played out and honestly it was pretty abnormal... But beyond its peculiarity, I enjoyed it entirely. I was highly amused by the whole thing and I laughed a lot. Finally, I can say that I am no longer afraid of Where the Wild Things Are-- there's one in all of us.

Rating: 3 of 4 Stars.