Where the Wild Things Are

We wound down this Halloween weekend with dinner and a movie on Sunday evening. Let’s start with the best part: dinner. Dinner was delicious, and I normally don’t say this about restaurant pho. I love a hearty Vietnamese soup, but normally it’s so much tastier home made. However, we went to a great pho place in Queen Anne called, Pho Viet Anh. Because of the neighborhood, it’s a little pricey, but the hot and spicy broth and complimentary extra noodles make it worth it – especially if you’re in the area anyways. Newly Prudie, take note!

We went to see Where the Wild Things Are after dinner. I have definite memories of reading this book and enjoying the pictures as a child. Actually, it was the first “real” children’s book I read after those mini-easy-reader things. But, before going into the movie, I couldn’t remember much of the real story. After leaving the movie, I didn’t know much about the story either.

We enter the world of the wild things with the reckless and hyperactive, Max, a young, sensitive boy with an active imagination. The world of the wild things is part dense forest, part barren desert, part tempestuous ocean. The wild things spend their time playing, sleeping, fighting, and eating their kings. Max haplessly becomes their next king; although, (spoiler alert) he does not get eaten at the end.


There is a lot of drama in Where the Wild Things Are, and some interestingly dark conflicts. (Sidenote: “dark” is the primary way this movie is described on rotten tomatoes.) One of these conflicts is the lead wild thing, Carol’s, mercurial temperament which can turn quite violent and dangerous. Also, within the wild thing clan, there is some inequality and bullying that happens. The characters also worry about the potential end of the world and the helplessness and emptiness it makes them feel. Often they refer to things turning from sand to dust and the sun dying, which was inspired by Max’s real world science teacher. In Max’s real world there is also the drama of his struggling single mother and Max’s lonely childhood. Unfortunately, at the end of the movie, after Max leaves his world for his dreamscape and then leaves his dreamscape to return to his world, none of the conflicts are resolved! The most bullied wild thing continues to be bullied, Carol shows no remorse for his abusiveness, Max’s mother continues to struggle, and there is no apparent solution for Max’s loneliness.

Lacking a traditional linear story line, character development, resolution of conflicts, and lessons to be learned, the story just moves from one wacky, wild adventure to the next, as Max tries to survive the unpredictable wild things. The movie is both dreamy and abrupt, with its ambient music, melancholy ponderings, sudden bursts of energy, and vistas of these wild mascots. On the one hand, this seems like a fresh approach to movie making, but on the other hand, it makes it hard to latch onto anything memorable (besides the stunning images). It was a spectacular thing to watch, if at times a little bumpy and chaotic with all the wild rumpuses going on. All in all, I’m glad I watched it, but the dreaminess of it almost lulled me to sleep, especially with a belly full of complimentary extra rice noodles.