Why I Disliked “Where The Wild Things Are”

I was surprised at the number of people who weren’t tolerant enough to accept my personal opinion on “Where the Wild Things Are.” I did a review of the movie on The Young Turks Show, and I got the most negative response. Opinions on a child film shouldn’t lead to a backlash of foul comments. My personal preferences led me to hate the film.

Now let me explain in detail why the movie was not my favorite.

In my review, I said the film was boring, and the main child actor annoyed the living daylights out of me. I understand Spike Jonze’s attempt in making the movie deep, dark, and meaningful for people who were raised by a single parent and grew up feeling isolated. I understand that the movie also attempted to make evident the incredible imagination of a child. But for me, the movie failed at both attempts because it was slow, unclear, and dragged on without a climax. In fact, if you’re interested in an anti-climactic film, this one is for you. The long pauses where the characters just sit there and stare at one another makes me reminiscent of the MTV reality show “The Hills.”

The movie begins with Max being a complete brat. He gets into so much trouble that his mother, played by the fabulous Catherine Keener, tries to discipline him. After she yells at him, he responds by running away. As he runs through what seems like the woods, he begins to imagine that he is sailing off to some remote island inhabited by monsters.

The monsters in the movie were all part of this dysfunctional family. But the writers decided not to make the cause of the dysfunction clear. For instance, why did KW, one of the female monsters, run away from her family? Why did she decide to come back? Why did she particularly have a hard time getting along with Carol? Is it because Carol is an obnoxious monster who randomly breaks things? Did Carol do something terrible to her personally? All of this was unclear and unexplained.

KW had an easy time getting along with Max, who is the child character in the movie. But Max closely resembles Carol, the out-of-control, over-emotional, and extremely irritating member of the monster clan. So how can KW hate Carol, but be so fond of Max? It might be because Max is imagining all this craziness and children tend to imagine things that make no sense. I get it. I’m supposed to be amused by that.

I wasn’t.

Max deceived the monsters into thinking that he is really this powerful king. The monsters promised not to eat him as long as he would solve their family’s unexplained dysfunction. But we never know what the family problems really are, and Max leaves their island without solving anything. In fact, he leaves the island while the monster family is in turmoil.

In the end, Max leaves his imaginary world and goes back home. He never apologizes to his mom for being an undisciplined pest, and she serves him a nice warm dinner. Then they sit at the kitchen table staring at one another for what feels like 20 minutes.

For some viewers, the point of the movie was that even though all families have problems, there is nothing more comforting than being part of one. I know that was the point of the movie, but it was not portrayed clearly. All the unanswered questions were distracting for me, and the director’s attempt to be vague and mysterious only worked against him. In addition, Max was not a character that I could relate to. In fact, rather than feeling sympathetic for his sense of isolation, I found myself disliking him for being such an unpleasant child. The only character that I loved was Max’s mother. Catherine Keener never disappoints me in a movie.

Regardless of the plot, the film was unexciting for me. I thought it might have to do with the fact that this was a child’s movie. However, I would make the argument that Disney’s “Monsters vs. Aliens” or “Up” were only about ten times more entertaining and amusing.

I’m surprised that this movie was such a hit in its opening weekend. But to each its own.