See the trailer here!
Hey, guys! Last night, I had the pleasure of going to see the new movie , Where the Wild Things Are, based on the 1963 book by Maurice Sendak. I remember thinking it was the best book ever in elementary school, and getting to see in on screen instead of inside my head really was a treat. This movie had super awesome effects, killer music, a great storyline, and an awesome little main character. For a twelve year old with limited experience, Max Records is a very very good little actor, and he will have a very successful career if he can keep it up.
Actor Max Records and movie-maker Spike Jonze, above.
Where the Wild Things are tells the story of a little boy named Max. One night, Max’s mom brought over her boyfriend and Max gets jealous and stubborn. He starts throwing tantrums and acting wild, and finally, when his mom tries to punish him for his actions, he bites her shoulder and becomes ashamed of himself. This is where the story begins, as Max runs away from his home as fast as he can in his little wolf costume. He runs and runs and keeps running until he finally stops and sees fires out in the distance. He reaches the place where he saw the fires, and there is a large campsite where huge animal-like monsters seem to be living. Carol, one of the monsters, is in an angry fit, and he is destroying all of the monsters’ houses. Everyone’s shaking their heads, wishing they could do something about it, but knowing his anger will pass over. Finally, Max works up the nerve to go and help Carol destroy houses, unsuccessfully. Carol likes him, but the other monsters are angry that the little strange looking boy would come in unexpected and destroy their homes. Frantically, to save his own life, Max makes up one of his stories, telling them that he has magical powers and that the monsters can’t eat him because of said powers. The monsters except Max as their king, as he promises he’ll make everything right. The time King (Max) stays with them is filled with excitement, until Max agrees with KW (one of the monsters) that she should bring her new friends to the amazing fort that Max had helped the monsters build. Everyone but Carol likes KW’s friends. Carol is in love with KW, and he has become jealous. Since Carol says some rude things, Max decides it would be a fun idea to have a dirt clob fight, and so they did, which in the end, only made matters worse. Carol gets angry, for the first time, at Max, and he finally finds out that Max doesn’t have powers. The other monsters were already aware of this, but nobody told Carol, because Carol did not like to be lied to. Carol tried to hunt Max down and eat him, but KW let Max hide in her stomach. KW talks to Carol and when Carol realizes he is going overboard and leaves, Max informs KW about how Carol doesn’t mean to be the way that he is. Max then declares to KW that he has to go home, because he has to fix his own family, and the monsters have to fix theirs. Max says goodbye to everyone but Carol, who was nowhere in sight, and he gets on his boat and sails in the direction of his home. Carol runs to the shore, crying, and silently says sorry and goodbye to Max. When Max reaches land, he happily runs as fast as he can back to his home, where his mother is waiting with cake and a relieved smile.
