Written By: Dan Geer

Let me just start off by saying that I have never “read” the 9-10 sentence book Where the Wild Things Are, so I do not have a real good idea of how close this new film by Spike Jonze is to the original story. What I do know is that this movie perfectly captures what it is like to be a kid that perhaps doesn’t have a lot of friends, has some trouble at home and simply wants to escape for a while.

The film starts out with a kid named Max (Max Records), who seems to have quite the imagination. When he runs into some trouble with his sister and her friends, and things get a little tense at home when his single mother brings home a new boyfriend (instead of spending time playing with her son), Max finds that he has nowhere to turn to but to a place “where the wild things are.”

He ends up supposedly finding a small boat anchored ashore and takes a sailing trip to a mysterious island where strange creatures reside and seem to be having some sort of upheaval that needs a resolution. When asked who he is, Max takes it upon himself to claim that he is a king from a far away land. The Wild Things readily believe that he is who he says he is, thus they make him king to take care of whatever problems they are going through.

This is, of course, Max’s imagination, which is probably why the Wild Things agree to make him king so easily. It is simply what Max would like to have happen in real life. All he wants is a place where he can make things the way he would like them to be – with no neglectful parents or troubling sisters.

This film reminds me of when I was Max’s age, around 10-12 years old. I had a pretty vivid imagination as a child, and would regularly disappear to imaginary lands where otherworldly creatures exist and the only rules that apply are my own when I wasn’t happy with the real world. I guess this is why the film intrigues me so much. It brought out the 11-year old within.

The Jim Henson Creature Shop, combined with the seamless CGI and great voice-over work by the cast all bring to life these amazing “Wild Things.” I was constantly looking for flaws (which I should not have been doing, but the adult in me kept on trying to destroy my childhood innocence), but could never find any. This, along with the aliens in this summer’s sleeper hit District 9, are the best special effects creatures I have seen since Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Just awe-inspiring.

The Wild Things were not the only charming and impressive aspects of this film. The incredible landscapes of forests, endless sand dunes, lakes/oceans lit up with starry skies, etc., are all equally captivating. The choice of music for the soundtrack also helps greatly in creating a certain eerie, yet playful mood for this imaginary world.

Admittedly this film is a bit slow moving (perhaps even a little too slow for kids), and not a lot really happens. But what makes this film so great is that even in the place where the wild things are, there is conflict – which reminds Max that he cannot hide from the troubles of the world. He must eventually return to face his fears and make the best of things. Some adults I know cannot even do this. Perhaps we all need to escape to where the wild things are once in a while in order to combat the wild things in our own overly-cynical and jaded lives.

Rating:  (out of four)