Where The Wild Things Are (2009 Film)

I didn't expect to love that, but I DID expect to like it. So I'm even more disappointed that I didn't.

It feels very much like Fantastic Mr. Fox in being a movie based on a kids book that the indie director keeps throwing in your face that he's an indie director. However as self-indulgent as Fantastic Mr. Fox was as a vanity project for Wes Anderson, it was actually a lot of fun. I found Spike Jonze interpretation of Maurice Sendak's book a total downer. On brand for an indie film, not so much for a kids movie (or the book for that matter).

Still, it's clear Jonze was given a budget while Anderson's stop-motion looked incredibly choppy. It's weird Anderson still delivered the better indie kids film.

I get that Sendak was a producer, and I will not lie, I'm betting he responded positively to it very much based on the emotional beats. I just felt very unfulfilled by the end by them.

The film is ambiguous. It the adventure imaginary or not? I'm leaning towards imaginary because if Max had actually been gone for a couple of months, his mom would be far angrier and more relieved to see him at the end.

I think it fit in well thematically that the conflict of a movie centered around an over-emotional kid who can't control his behavior, is essentially about a group of monsters trying to cope and deal with their feelings of rage and sadness. Yeah, that's a great allegory. But it also means the film had incredibly low stakes. And it's also another reason the book probably would have been better off not made into a full-length film.

There were two bits I really liked. I like when Max is doing the dance Judith says, "Oh, I get it. It's stupid." Perfect line delivery there.

I also really love the vampire story Max made up to his mother. It hinted at a deep sadness in Max and was a perfect allegory for his feelings of alienation. Is it weird that I thought that specific moment between Max and his mom, that occurs SO early on, and before any of the monster stuff happens, is by far the best part of the movie? Because I think it was.

I'm very disappointed. I tend to be disappointed by independent films in general, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. But I did expect to enjoy this and I didn't. **1/2.