For Wild Things, With Love

If you read the post about Pixar you know that my thesis there was that those folks know how to tell a story for and to a modern child. I have an addendum to the thesis. They know how to tell a story to a well adjusted modern child. Spike Jonze and screenwriter Dave Eggers know how to tell a story to an angst-filled and lonely child with anger issues. And boy do they have it down.
Lonely and angry, that's Max, the protagonist of "Where the Wild Things Are". You see him trapped in a house with two females who I'm sure love him but who have their own troubles. So Max chooses isolation and imagination. Problem is, isolation only breeds more loneliness. And imagination, well, it gets him into trouble. Max is not a kid who is reachable by those Pixar puppies with funny voices or neat life lessons. Like many kids, Max is angry and Max lashes out.

That brings up the central problem to "Where the Wild Things Are". This imaginatively told tale, with rich characterization and subtle technique (at least when dealing with the adult portion of the program) has an audience problem. Who is this story meant for?
You see when Max retreats to a faraway island of imagination, it's a dark place with over-sized monsters that are given to eating strangers. They consider throwing clumps of hard dirt at your head to be the height of entertainment. There are threats in this world. Real threats. On screen, the threats are externalized by big scary monster-like puppets who aren't exactly soft and cuddly. They're just as angry as Max. But as adults we know that these monsters are internal, demons that threaten Max's safety just as much as if they were external, say some dark stranger with candy.
So let me try to answer my own question by telling you who this movie is not for. It's not for most young children. It is violent and disturbing and a parent needs to exercise caution. True most parents underestimate their kids but in this case, there is really a thin line between understanding and nightmarishness. Most kids, I think don't need this kind of storytelling. But the ones who do, may find "Where the Wild Things Are" to be a life-changing experience.
As for adults, I found myself sitting through this movie admiringly, thinking why am I here? This wonderful tale is not really a story meant for me. A parent or Grandparent with a kid age oh, seven to twelve, now they have a reason to see this. I have never seen any movie that so gently but thoroughly explains a child's point of view, especially an angry child. I wonder what a child psychologist might say about this film? My guess is that they'd say it's about time.
The reason for a guy like me to see this film is more esoteric. It's easy to see why this film is the darling of critics like A.O. Scott or Mahnola Dargis. It is rare for ANY movie to get these kind of emotional complexities right. For me, I can watch this movie as a cinephile, a lover of film. Nuance, complexity, allegory, an academic's dream. Rare indeed to see oversize puppets illuminate the human condition.
In Max are the seeds of cinematic teen rebellion that manifest itself in James Dean and Sal Mineo in "Rebel Without a Cause" or later in Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull".
But here Max is young. We can hope that he escapes the celluloid fate of those characters.
"Where the Wild Things Are" is a great film but I am not the audience that will find it most resonant. For those young people with whom it does strike a chord, it will be a film they cherish for a lifetime.

Parents don't be lazy on this one. See it first, before you dump the kids off for a matinee.