Before this movie came out, I was extremely nervous. I was afraid that it would be overhyped (which it kind of already is in the states thanks to Urban Outfitters). I was afraid that my tattoos on shoulder and stomach from the book would become a fashion trend (even though I got them years ago) and that the movie wouldn’t do the book any justice. I was mostly wrong. Just mostly. It wasn’t perfect, but pretty darn close to how I would have done it.
Spike Jonze directed the movie. For those who don’t know him, you should know that he is pretty much a genius. He is the mastermind, along with the Beastie Boys behind Crailtap (Girl skateboards, chocolate skateboards, Lakai…) and has so much imagination. He has made such movies as Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. His most famous works are probably Jackass 1 and 2. I am assuming more people have seen those movies than his others. He started out doing skate videos, then music videos for the Beastie Boys, and just worked his way to the top. He is a true artist in every sense. He was the perfect director for this movie.
The crew behind this movie was excellent. You had Dave Eggers ( as the writer, Spike Jonze as director, and Maurice Sendak as the producer. All of them pure artist in their own way. Maurice wrote the greatest children’s book. Dave Eggers is one of the best humor writers, and Spike Jonze is just crazy.
The plot of the movie is the same as the book, expect it takes it to a whole new level. In the book, the story goes that Max gets in a fight with his mom. He tells her that he will eat her up, so she sends him to bed without any supper. Upset, Max stomps to his room. All of a sudden, his room starts turning into a forest, and then he hops on a sailboat and sails to a land where the wild things live. He declares to be a king, and becomes their king. They just play and have fun. Max then becomes homesick and sails back home. When he gets home, supper is waiting for him, and it’s still hot. The movie follows that, expect adds more drama to it. In the movie, Max is struggling to be accepted and fit in his family and world. His family thinks he is annoying and hyper, and he doesn’t seem to have very many friends. When trying to get his mothers attention while her boyfriend is over for dinner, Max over reacts and bites her, and gets sent to his room. Instead of going to his room, Max runs away into a forest. He finds a sailboat, and starts sailing into the big blue ocean. He finds an island, and monsters live there. He approaches them with no fear, and wants to be there friend. He tells them that he was a former king, so they shouldn’t eat him. They come to trust him through his lies, and do what he says. He tries to make all the monsters happy, especially Carol, and they begin to build a big fort. When Carol finds out that he doesn’t have any powers and isn’t a real king, he becomes very angry and tries to eat Max. Each monster represents his emotions, Carol obviously being his abusive Dad that caused his mom to be single. Max escapes by hiding in KW’s (his mom) mouth, and then goes to his boat to return to his mother. It was a very sad goodbye between Carol and Max. I might have cried. Not sure though.
This is not a kid’s movie in my opinion. I feel that it is too sad for children. This is definitely a movie for adults who grew up as children reading the book. Adults who have dealt with real life, and can relate to Max. They can relate to Max in the sense that they just want to get away from it all sometimes and be someone else. The whole over all tone and mood of the movie is very depressing. It’s an emotional movie, with lots of interpersonal battles. Carol, the main monster, has a hard time controlling his anger. Some of the monsters have a hard time controlling their depression. With all these personalities clashing together, conflicts arise.
Granted, the movie is PG, but the overall tone isn’t kid friendly. I would have no problem taking a kid to see this movie, I just don’t know if they would be entertained as much as I was during the movie. I thought that the writing was sheer brilliance. It had its own flavor and style to it. These monsters were cool and funny as crap. They had real personalities, personalities of people you meet every single day. Max was every ADHD child you can think of, who had a running imagination. He was probably a lot like Spike Jonze as a child. Max and the monsters were casted perfectly, and they worked so well together.
The soundtrack was excellent. Karen O (singer from the yeah yeah yeahs) did a great soundtrack. It fit the movie perfectly, and gave it its ups and downs. It is worth buying and listening too.
The cinematography was very good. So many scenes I wanted to keep as a snap shot. They did such a good job with lighting and unique angles. It was honestly beautiful.
All in all, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about this movie. I thought it was perfect. I don’t think there could have been a better adaption of the book than this movie. I am glad that Spike didn’t make it for the masses either. It wasn’t made for everybody. Majority of people will not like this movie and will disagree on my review. They could think it’s too sad and depressing. But this movie wasn’t made to make everyone happy. This movie was made to make a classic children’s story come to life, and it did. I loved it so much. It was honestly done just right. I walked out feeling so relived. It didn’t disappoint me at all, and I don’t think that it will become a movie that everyone will see. Which is good and bad. But I think it was done just right. I honestly wouldn’t have changed a thing about this movie. It wasn’t to long, to short, to scary, to dark. It had its funny moments, and its sad moments. It was pure beauty.
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