Movie Review: "Where the Wild Things Are"

Saw "Where the Wild Things Are" this weekend after a day of doing everything we thought would be in the movie. That involved hiking and kind of climbing rocks, but at the end of the night, we were too tired to build a fort.

Anyway, this movie was beautiful. I've read reviews that called it "gorgeous" and talked about the characters being a work of art. They were. What I really liked about the movie, though, was that it was exciting, even for a 22-year-old. The "wild rumpus" was fun, but the wild things adventure turned out to be more serious than that. There were parts that were scary and parts that were really sad, and children should see these things in a movie. The dirt ball "war" went a little too far, and some of the wild things were hurt both physically. That's something children can see. The wild things talked about loneliness and looking for a king or someone to bring them happiness. You could feel the frustration that Max, the kid, felt at home where he was neglected and had no friends. Then when he journeyed into the land of the wild things, his same frustration was reflected in wild things. After a series of adventures and mishaps as king of the wild things, Max learns a lesson, and it's one that adults and children can appreciate.

While 20-somethings were going to see this to relive childhood memories or because they're fans of Spike Jonze or Karen O's indie soundtrack, it really was a great movie for children. I went to a 9 o'clock showing to avoid the kid crowd, but I saw a lot of them coming out from the 7 o'clock showing. A lot of children's books and movies are happy throughout, but children, like Max, get scared and angry, and at times, they feel sad too. That's why this movie is so great. The book was only like 10 pages long and mostly pictures, but it told a good story. And the movie, which was based on the book, shows that no one wants to feel lonely, and if you are a frustrated kid, you're not alone.