Spike Jonze took the beloved children’s book Where the Wild Things Are and truly created a visual masterpiece. The scenery alone was amazing, and then the costumes for the Wild Things are so realistic, they really pull you into the movie and on an adventure. Shot were deliberate and moving and even the soundtrack was absolutely perfect. Every individual part came together to create a world that at the end, you find you don’t want to leave. The book itself is quite short, but Jonze keyed in on the absolute core and simply expanded it seamlessly into such a grand adventure. Although the book is for children, and the movie appeared to be, it’s actually very adult. It is sometimes heavy and emotionally volatile, though most of it would slip over a child’s head without real negative impact.
The concept the movie circles around is a child’s two most basic and instinctual solutions to stress and overwhelming emotions; running and screaming, and disappearing into a fantasy world. Since they sometimes don’t understand why things are happening, the emotions are often quite hard to deal with, thus the obvious running and screaming. Max’s desperate desire to be part of a fantasy world shows a secondary need to purely escape from everything all together. His true feelings of depression and utter loneliness become apparent multiple times, and during his time with the Wild Things they too express those same feelings, creating a kind of bond between them.
The Wild Things themselves are a strange mixture of child-like adults. Many times Max must be a sort of parent figure and leader to them, but other times just seems like a child watching two angry parents’ fight. As much as he loves the Wild Things, their emotional instability and unpredictable nature keeps him continuously cautious, like sometimes he wonders how much they can really be trusted. They are quick to judge, but also quick to forgive. They take things literally and seem to feel personally attacked by various situations, creating an internal frustration inside Max, who is only trying to make everyone happy. There is an immense pressure on Max to make things better and he uses his vast imagination to the best of his ability. For once somebody is seeing is his true potential and raw creative talent, unlike the neglect he saw himself getting at home. The Wild Things just want love and happiness and “to keep the sadness out” which proves difficult but is resolved so simply in the end.
The one he fears and loves the most, Carol (James Gandolfini) actually has a lot of the same emotional aggression as Tony Soprano (also played by Gandolfini), which can be a little distracting at first. The dialog between the Wild Things has an enormous range, from happiness and love, to danger and alarm, to a kind of awkward and strange darkness. And a couple times there are even a few carefully placed bits of humor that produce a smile and a few seconds of lightness in your chest; a kind of strange wit that only Jonze could pull off. The whole thing is so simple but perfectly detailed and each time you see it, you’ll find a new little piece and new symbolic connection.
The movie is incredible and visual and will suck you in from the very first second of film. It’s a story we want to know, a puzzle we want to put together, and a world we want to understand. It makes you invest yourself into it, leaving you emotionally taxed at the end, but in that wonderfully beautiful way that few movies capture.
If you allow yourself to be taken, what you receive at the end is so much greater.
And you’ll find that you really just want to run and scream through the woods.
Contributed by: Alli S.
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