Rated: Rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language.

Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Release Date: 16 October 2009

Runtime: 101 min

Director: Spike Jonze

Cast: Max Records, Catherine Keener, Pepita Emmerichs, Mark Ruffalo, Steve Mouzakis, James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Dano, Michael Berry Jr.

Max (Max Records) is a lonely boy with an active fantasy life. When his sister Claire’s (Pepita Emmerichs) friends carelessly crush his snow fort in a snowball fight, and she doesn’t do anything about it, he goes into a rage and makes a mess of her bedroom. When his mother Connie (Catherine Keener) invites her boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) to dinner, Max throws a tantrum in which he bites her, and runs out of the house, still in the wolf costume he likes to wear. At the nearby seashore, he finds an abandoned sailboat, and sets out in it.

He eventually reaches an island, where he finds several large talking wild things, vaguely humanoid in shape such as watery off-white colored eyes and snotty noses left un-wiped, with features resembling those of various animals . Carol (James Gandolfini), Ira and Judith (Forest Whitaker and Catherine O’Hara), Alexander (Paul Dano), Douglas (Chris Cooper), The Bull (Michael Berry, Jr.). Max convinces the wild things that he is a King with magical powers and claims he can ‘fix things’ within the group which begins with a ‘wild rumpus’. Like all things in life, the good things come to an end resulting in an increase in tension between Carol and the others in the group.

Eventually, Max admits to Alexander that he is neither a king nor does he have magical powers. Alexander warns Max to never let Carol know. But Max’s secret is exposed to the whole group, and Carol goes wild. Max is saved by K.W., who hides him from Carol in her stomach, then explains to him that their lives are already difficult, with Carol’s tantrums only making it worse. Hearing this, Max finally understands what his mother is going through, and decides that it is time to leave the island.

My initial reaction to the movie was “wow this is slow”, however once Max enters his imagination you see the story about being a child begin to unfold, from random tantrums, jealousy, anger, attention seeking…all emotions playing a role in the film. The personalities of the characters soon begin to clearly portray true life characters in Max’s life, even though we had only a moment to meet them at the beginning of the story. The audience is able to see how individuals become exaggerated in the mind of a child especially individuals who play an important role in that child’s life. As an observer you cannot help but feel the sadness of the characters in the film, and in some cases you cannot help but recall moments in your life that you felt the same way some of these wild things felt. The tagline of the movie really is as true as it gets, There’s one in all of us.

carole Adventure, Family, Fantasy