Where the Wild Things Are is an adaptation of the long-beloved children’s book by Maurice Sendak. But although children will enjoy the gentle good humor and moments of well-done slapstick, this movie is made to touch the hearts of adults. Its treatment of loneliness, despair, and interpersonal relationships is incredibly well-done considering its main characters could be performing on the stage at Chuck E. Cheese.
The sets and the cinematography are unique and enjoyable. In an era of precocious, worldly young actors like Jeremy Sumpter (Peter Pan), Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), and Dakota Fanning (everything else), Max Records stands out as a fresh, unaffected young actor. Everything he does seems to come from inside him, as though he just went on the set and played and formed real relationships, instead of being coached on Method acting.
Still, this film is not for everyone. It’s no chick flick or epic drama, no blockbuster or Harry Potter fantasy. It is a beautiful adventure that requires your imagination to stretch but rewards that stretching by delineating the most human of emotions on a whimsical stage.
For those of you looking for more childhood/coming of age adventures with unaffected young actors, I recommend My Girl with a pre-Party Monster Macauley Culkin or Bridge to Terabithia, an adaptation of the Newberry Medal-winning book.
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