Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-24 21:05:44

Where The Bad Movies Are (One & a half stars)

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2012-05-24 14:13:53

We Loved It

I brought a 15 year old boy, 10 year old boy, and seven year old girl to this movie. All four of us loved it. We laughed and cried. Some of the criticisms of the movie are the same type the book received when it was first published. If you are expecting "Toy Story" do not go see it. When I read these reviews I'm irritated by the comments about Max's behavior. In the book he was chasing his dog around with a fork and told his mother he would eat her...did you expect an angel? It would be impossible to make a full-length movie exactly like the book. I was not disappointed in any way. I think the movie was extremely creative. It was magical for me to see the old "Wild Thing" friends of my childhood come to life on the screen. They looked exactly as they should. It was a fantasy lived out. If you know anything about Maurice Sendak, he is no jolly Burl Ives type. This movie is, to me, a Sendak-style movie. It isn't perfect, but I would still recommend it with 5 stars. I will buy it on DVD.

2012-05-18 15:30:25

One of the melancholy best of 2010

2010 was a great year for melancholy films (A SINGLE MAN being another great film). Where the Wild Things Are captured all of the uncertainty, mood swings, and wild imagination of being young.

2012-05-18 11:06:26

Not really a movie for kids...

This review is from: Where the Wild Things Are (Amazon Instant Video) I watched this with my 6 year old and neither of us cared for it. It was missing something that made it pop and I did not like the way the family was acted out.

2012-05-14 20:35:15

You're right not for kids....

This movie is about the issues and emotions that kids go through and what they do to cope in a world not meant for them. If a person can see through the fact that these are not monsters, but the main characters emotions and feeling on the world, his fears, and his parent issues. i know it is not transformers or gi joe, but the people who are giving it bad review have no frame of refrence, they went in lookng for a big budget happy movie with no point, ie transformers. for the rest of the thinking world check it out and remember what it was like to be a child when you got into trouble and wanted to run away.

2012-05-14 08:02:46

Not for kids.....or adults for that matter

I had really high hopes for this movie. I vaguely remembered the book and liked it so I was really looking forward to the movie. The trailers looked great. But...The movie was VERY disappointing. The movie is about a very depressed and emotionally unstable child. Who leaves reality in pretending. He lashes out at his mother and sister and sister's friends for that matter and runs away. Gets on a boat and sets sail to another land. Now, I'm pretty sure that land doesn't exist, but that it is his dreamland. He meets these odd creatures that remind me of H.R. Puff N Stuff.The whole movie has really no plot. More like a long Jerry Seinfeld episode. However, the Jerry Seinfeld episodes were so much better and well crafted. This movie lacked a plot and just didn't keep my interest. I watched it with my 10 year old and just explained to him that the child on this movie had problems and that kids should behave like that.The creatures themselves were cool looking and were CGI, but they did have this whole "man in a costume" kinda look to them. Now whether they did have people inside, really wasn't apparent, nor did it matter.I don't recommend this depressing movie at all. It really has no value to it and there is no lesson to be learned other than, "There are kids out there that are like that, and they escape reality through dreams and make believe."There were little stories here and there, but they either didn't make sense, or didn't resolve.I recommend you steer in another direction and leave this one behind. Forget about it. It's not really a movie worth watching.

2012-05-13 04:56:18

Behind the scenes videos were much more entertaining

After watching behind the scenes videos, and seeing all those kids on the set, I did understand the intention of people who made this movie. The idea was great, the delivery....is another story. First of all, all the yelling and screaming and crying of the main character at the beginning of this movie was by very least disturbing, and autistic like. Then when he got to the land with all these furry creatures, it was evidently a personally psychological battle. So to call it a movie for children one cannot. Perhaps very little children would find it amusing, but certainly without truly scary and disturbing beginning. Again the idea was great, but what came out, should be a part of the curriculum in a school of psychiatry, but not as an entertainment piece.

2012-05-13 02:03:53

Wonderful Adventure!!

This review is from: Where the Wild Things Are [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) This movie was wonderful. It is true that watched in a certain way it is more of an adult movie. But at the same time you have to be a kid to appreciate it in other ways. The acting was wonderful. You couldn't get that from just any 9 year old. Max Records played "Max" flawlessly. By the way props to him for having an awesome name. The CGI effects where 100% seemless and believable. The book was perfectly expanded into a feature film with back story that fit perfectly along with the personality in the book. For those who think it is darker than the book, you are right. But you are wrong to take this as a bad thing. It is done this way because a kid wandering into a realm of immense wild creatures can't be anything other than scary. Otherwise they'd call it "Where The Happy Smiley Teddy Bears Are". I give this movie a 10/10 for all elements.

2012-05-09 04:02:00

Where The Wild Things Are Really Boring

I've never read the book, so I have no preconceived notion of how this movie should be. I don't have children. I loved the beginning of the movie. It's not often movies depict real children being real. Max is a little terror all right. I'm into Max. So at the beginning of the movie I'm digging it, shaky cam and all. Max trashing his sisters room. Max on the kitchen table. Max bites his Mom - heck YEAH! But after Max winds up on the island with the Wild Things it was all down hill from there. The creatures made me keep thinking of HR Pufnstuf, which was a distraction, and one of the creature voices sounded like Claire Fisher from Six Feet Under, which was also a distraction, and it went on and on with Max and the Wild Things running, jumping, skipping, playing, rolling, beating things with sticks, and many other boring things that it started making me think of a Teletubbies episode I once saw, and THAT was a distraction. This just went on and on. And on and on. And on. After about an hour of screen time, I turned it off.

2012-05-08 14:31:51

Where the Bi-polar Things Are

About halfway through Spike Jonze's take on the 9 line book, I was questioning to myself if I was *really* enjoying watching this film. I was enjoying looking at it; it's a very breathtakingly and gorgeously shot film, and Jonze has a great eye for a beautiful shot, as this film had many of them. But was I enjoying watching a kids movie where everyone one monent hated each other then suddenly loved each other?Parents will tell me "It's a kids movie", I'm sure. And yes I'm aware of that. But is is really a kids' movie? There were scenes that even I found disturbing. Say for example, Ira, the one Max has a lot to do with, goes ballistic when night falls and the sky is dark. He believes, due to a comment made to him from earlier in the movie by Max that the sun will die. Do kids really need to see this? Guaranteed if I was about 8, that scene would have been nightmare fuel for me.I'm also anxiously awaiting hipsters/indie/arthouse crowd people to comment on my review and tell me that I don't get it. No, actually, I do get it. This film is about Max growing up. "The Wild Things", in all moods, represent the troubles of growing up. But keep in mind, did Maurice Sendak have that in mind when he wrote the story? Quite clearly the answer is no. The intention was a nice little story that even us adults could relate to, about the "wild thing" in all of us. Or maybe you guys are somehow right that I "just don't get it", that is, get how anyone could really enjoy this film from a narrative POV.Like I said, Jonze created a film that's pretty to look at. The special effects with the wild things were amazing. I couldn't tell if it was CG or puppets that were used. They really are flawless and hard to take you eyes off of. There are some funny scenes. I thought the two owls were hilarious- especially Max's reaction. And some of the things Max said (FEED ME WOMAN!!! in a great reference to Little Shop of Horrors) made us laugh. But this film was hard to watch somehow knowing the kid made things only worse. See that's why I didn't enjoy this movie. When Max arrives, things somehow go from bad to worse. We're forced to watch these cute creatures eventually go crazy and pretty much hate each other near the end. Then all of a sudden he leaves and they miss him despite the fact things went from bad to worse because of him!!!In short, I liked LOOKING at this pretty melange of images. But I didn't enjoy WATCHING this ugly and depressing take on a 9 sentence story. If you like films that are pretty, watch this, but if you like watching films with a good story, with characters that are likeable and conflicts you can care for, this film somehow just isn't it.

2012-05-07 14:55:07

Where the Mopey Things Are.

I waited years for this movie. From the very first teaser trailer that played before How the Grinch Stole Christmas about 10 years ago, to the test footage, I couldn't wait to see this movie. I didn't care that it would be based on my favorite children's book which only had several sentences that made up the plot. The fact was, I was going to see Wild things. REAL Wild Things. The first official trailer that played before Monsters vs Aliens last year made Where the Wild Things are look like it was going to be one of the most incredible experiences ever. It looked like it had everything! Wild Things throwing eachother, rock fights, everyone running around, fire, explosions, tons of stuff that we could only use our imaginations to figure out what was going on, just like in the book.Then I saw the movie.The whole time I was in the theater, I was on the edge of my seat because I was waiting for something to happen. I actually waited a few months before seeing it in theaters, because I wanted to go when there'd be few or no people, so I could watch it without distractions. All the reviews were either declaring that the movie was a work of art, or that it was boring and nothing happened. Sadly, I'm with the bored people. This isn't a movie for kids, but not in the sense that it's violent or anything- it just has themes that adults will get. This is for adults being nostalgic about being a kid and what it was like to feel these things. Kids 12 or under will most likely be bored.The story basically follows the book, but with more structure (I guess). Max is a young boy who's just trying to be a kid, but his older sister doesn't pay much attention to him when her friends are around, and his mom's trying to hold a job while dating. Max dresses up in his wolf suit one night, bites his mom, and runs away. He discovers a boat, hops in, and ends up in a land where the Wild Things are. Just as they're about to eat him, he tells them that they shouldn't, because of how strong he is. This interests Carol, the apparent leader of the group, and they let him live, making Max their new king. They work together on making a fort and...ok, that's really it. The rest is dialogue.Don't get me wrong- I tend to love 'boring' movies (like There Will Be Blood). But so much of the movie is dialogue without any real character development, that I couldn't connect with any of the characters. I kept waiting for something to happen, but there were only a few stand out scenes that lasted a few seconds. Everything else was shown in the trailer. There's just so little I liked about this movie, and I hate that. I wanted to love this movie. The cinematography, locations, and especially the Wild Things costumes are all flawless, and it's a shame Where the Wild Things Are didn't get nominated for any awards, especially in costumes. They looked like real creatures, and their faces showed so much emotion that it makes you wonder why bigger budget movies with CG creatures (the Wild Things' faces were animated) don't look even half this good. The movie also kind of rips you off in having the most wild scene at the very beginning when Max goes nuts trying to get the family dog. It was a perfect way to start the movie, but the only other scene that lives up to that, in terms of wild-ness, is near the end when one Wild Thing's arm gets ripped off. Don't worry though parents, it looks like sand and rocks comes out of the socket. As for the Wild Things themselves, the characters are supposed to represent a different emotion, but a couple, especially Judith, just come off as annoying. Carol seems to be a manic depressive, and we never really learn why the creatures are sad most of the time. Carol's question for Max is if he can make the sadness go away when going over what he can all do. If we learned a little more about each Wild Thing, I think I might've liked more than just one or two.For the blu-ray, the picture and audio quality are great. I have no complaints in either category, and you also have the option for Spanish and French audio tracks. I'm glad they didn't mess up the picture transfer, because many of the shots here are gorgeous, and the crisp visuals are allowed to be seen as they were intended.There's a good amount of special features here as well, but nothing too special. The main treat is Higglety Pigglety Pop!, an animated/live action short based on Maurice Sendak's other well-known book. I love this story and seeing it advertised on the box was a big surprise, and enjoying every second of it was an extra bonus. Check it out. There's also an episode of HBO First Look for the movie, and a series of shorts by Lance Bangs that focuses on different aspects of making WTWTA. These are cool, especially Vampire Attack, and it was fun seeing the cast and crew did something with Spike Jonze's scooter. There's no commentary track, or extensive interviews with Maurice Sendak, but what's here is alright, and this is probably the most we'll ever get.I watched this movie 4 times before finalizing my decision that I just plain didn't like it. Again, it pains me to say that, especially considering how much work went into everything. I was about ready to cry the first time I saw the trailer and saw all the Wild Things come to life. Sadly, there wasn't much life in them. I don't get how some people can say that every character is deep when most of the time is spent with Carol and KW, and three of the other Wild Things only have a few lines of dialogue (heck, one has two sentences at the very end). I totally respect Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze for going with this for the movie version of the book, but I don't like it. I bought it mostly because I felt bad for the movie not doing too hot in theaters, but you'll want to rent this one first. Especially if you're considering leaving your children with it on the tv while you go off and do something else. You might give them boring nightmares. Sorry Spike and Maurice.

Wes Lambert 2012-05-07 09:00:12

We have medication for this now

I could say "Where the Wild Things Are" is a slow paced but sweet movieabout family life with a hopeful ending where all sins are forgiven. Iwould be lying. I spent the first 20 minutes wondering if I waswatching an American Family Association PSA about the dangers of singleparenthood or a highly produced commercial for the newest attentiondeficit drug. Max, our main character is isolated with no outlet forhis energy or imagination. He takes this out on his well meaning butoverworked mother as well as his ambivalent older sister. His acts ofbratty aggression escalates until he bites his mother. Yes, you readthat correctly. I cannot imagine what would have happened if I had donethat at Max's age. Once he has run away and is living among the wildthings, we are treated to a long lecture from child psychology 101.Reviews are mixed and I am sure some die hard fan could write a 1000word essay on everything I am "not getting" but I'll pass.

CutSickAss 2012-05-07 13:40:20

Do not be fooled by the promotion... it is meant for kids!

First of all, I must mention I had never even heard of the book thismovie is based on before I saw it, so this could be a critique on thebook itself.This movie is terrible... simply put. I said "terrible" and not"horrible" as I did not find it to be at all scary, not even for afour-year-old. The "monsters" are too silly-looking to be consideredintimidating, and the whole "dark" representation of a child's fantasyworld is simply unnoticeable. The main character is a kid who probablyshouldn't have stopped taking his Ritalin, since he has become the mostannoying thing this world has ever seen. From the first moment heappeared in the movie he made me think of "Nanny 911", and at no pointcould I bring myself to like this creature. He fights with his sister,her friends, his mother, and, basically, demands that the whole worldrevolves around him. When he can't get his way, he bites his mother,and runs off to a nearby park, where he finds a boat waiting for him-obviously- and sails off to a distant island... there he finds a fewbig "monsters" which are shaped like his dolls, and tells them he istheir new king, so they do EXACTLY what he orders them to do... justlike that!Anyway, the meaning of the movie is that kids should understand thatnot everything can be about them, that not having the full attention ofothers is not the end of the world, and that grown-ups have problems oftheir own... The really frustrating aspect of the movie is the way this"meaning" is derived, which is too silly and obvious! One of the"monsters" looks, acts, and talks exactly like the kid, another onelooks, acts, and talks exactly like his mother, another one looks,acts, and talks exactly like his sister, etc... I can't imagine anyoneover the age of 10 not being able to figure out precisely what thismovie is all about after the first 10 minutes. Honestly, if "Dora theExplorer" was on the poster of this film, pointing at one of the"monsters", asking "Who is this?", it would have made more sense to me!In conclusion, it is movie for very young children, even though someparents may find it too scary for them. It is TOO BORING for any personover the age of 10 to watch, and I did not experience any sentimentduring this movie, except anger for being so stupid I sat all the wayto the end of it!

2012-05-06 16:15:23

Horrible!!

This movie is horrible! It is obnoxious, creepy, and nothing makes sense. Spike, the script, the actors -all very bad. Why do we make movies like this for kids? Just crap!

deltajvliet 2012-05-03 21:04:21

Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

I remember some things about the book from when I was younger, but notmuch, and it doesn't really hold any place in my heart the way it seemsto with other people. The trailer still appealed to me, though. Itoffered some fantasy elements, a nice soundtrack, and nice visuals. Well, I was bored. The film's protagonist, a young boy named Max,throws a tantrum in his house, runs into the woods, has some sort ofdream where he becomes friends with monsters, then comes back home. Theend. That's about the entire plot. Nothing much happens. The film is good atevoking various emotions, but other than that it just felt empty. Some of the monsters Max befriends have relationship issues. Not surewhy. They're almost immature about things, throwing their own tantrumsand just being unreasonable with each other. I'm sure it's all becausethey're a product of Max's imagination, a tantrum-throwing childhimself, but what's the point? It's like watching a movie about youngchildren who can't play nice. Where the Wild Things Are just didn't do much for me. Oh, and no ArcadeFire in the movie, either. 4.5/10

arabog 2012-05-03 10:58:39

This movie is for disturbed adults who had a difficult childhood. NOT FOR CHILDREN.

This is not a movie for children. It is for disturbed adults who had adifficult childhood. I will guess the the makers of this movie do nothave children. It does'not even follow the book. In the book the kid issent to his room. In the movie he runs away. Now my kids will at tempto run away every time there is a disagreement. The movie had too muchviolence, stepping on people, swinging branches at people and laughing.What an insensitive story. Another example of some people on Hollywoodare out of touch with many varieties of families and can only relate totheir dysfunctional upbringing. It is just a marketing ploy to trickfamilies into bringing there whole family. I would rather just watchthe trailer.

2012-05-02 02:53:48

Where the Wild Things Are Review

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARESTARRING: Max Records, Katherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo and the voices of: James Gandolfini, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, Michael Berry Jr. and Lauren Ambrose WRITTEN BY: Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers; based on the book by Maurice Sendak DIRECTED BY: Spike Jonze Rated: PG Genre: Fantasy / Adventure Release Date: 16 October 2009 Having read the book Where the Wild Things Are several times as a kid, I was very interested in learning how the filmmakers were going to turn the short story which consisted of a mere nine sentences, into a feature length film. Sadly, it would have done better as a short film with nine sentences of dialogue. The film begins with the very realistic but depressing life of a boy named Max, played magnificently by Max Records. Max is a very troubled boy suffering from loneliness, among other things. He seems to yearn for his mother's (Katherine Keener) affection and when he isn't satisfied with the amount she feeds him, he lashes out in anger; throwing temper tantrums and even going so far as to biting her.If you're thinking that this doesn't exactly sound like a film you'd take the kids to, you are right. Although it is somewhat marketed as a film for children, it is definitely not, in reality. Even though The Pirates of the Caribbean movies were all rated PG - 13 and were filled with violence; this one is only rated PG and you'd be much better off with something in the field of those, trust me. I was stunned in the theater at the behavior of Max. I instantly thought of all of the unfortunate parents who would be taking their little ones to see it that weekend. And it only gets worse from there. After he yells at his mother and bites her, Max runs away. He runs so far away in fact that he comes across a boat and sails away to a magical island. Once on the island he hears loud noises in the woods and soon discovers that he is not alone. The island is inhabited by a group of large monsters who can talk and are occupied with rough housing. Max is intrigued by these creatures and so are we. The monsters were done extraordinarily well by Jim Henson's work shop. It's nice to see some people in Hollywood put some time and effort into the look of their film for a change. It makes us as movie-goers able to appreciate the artistic work, knowing that the people producing the material care what it looks like. The creatures are undoubtedly actors in large suits but their faces are a combination of makeup and CGI (computer graphic imagery) and at times its difficult to distinguish between which is which. They did a phenomenal job here. In addition to the way the creatures look, the cast of actors that bring them to life did an amazing job as well. But we all know you can't have a good movie with a horrible story that goes no-where and leaves us with too many unanswered questions. That's exactly what this film is. The movie is slow and boring and irritating and depressing all at the same time. You are visually entertained by the characters but most of them are meek and dark and have depressing issues that bog you down and make you feel uncomfortable in your seat. James Gandolfini is the voice of Carol, who I enjoyed most in the film, but that's not saying much. Carol is sort of the leader of this group of monsters. You get the feeling they must all be outcasts and loaners from a greater tribe of monsters. Upon meeting Max in the woods, he befriends him quickly and Max is invited into this weird circle of beasts. For a while Max feels at home and they all seem to enjoy having him there. They even make him their King. But then things start to get weird. The monsters all play too rough with each other and don't seam to be aware that Max is a fragile boy. They nearly smother him to death in what they call a `pile'; which consists of all of them laying on top of each other and they often sleep this way as well. Hopefully it was never intended, but this almost has an inappropriate sexual feel to it, that made me uneasy. Soon we learn that all of these creatures, just like Max, have serious issues. They all turn to him for answers and at first Max seems to offer a lot of solitude to each of them. He becomes a great leader as the King of the colony and tells them that they are going to construct a huge fortress that they will all live in together. It looked pretty cool and I think kids will enjoy this part of the film (if their parent's have allowed them to continue watching up to this point and if they weren't too frightened to keep interest on their own, that is). When Max seems to not have all of the answers however, they begin to slowly but surely turn on him. Some of them even threaten to eat him and it is very eerie. This is due largely to the amazing performances of all the actors, but it's just not right for what this movie is aimed at: KIDS. There have been family films in the past that have had dark and unhappy moments in them, but never like this. Most of the movies like that which we have all seen, usually have a lot of humor and the kids will actually pick up on an underlying message or lesson to be learned. No such ingredient is found in this film. I feel that the filmmakers may have intended to have some kind of message but at least for me, it was never fully found. I was just depressed through the entire movie and even more so at the end.Nothing seems to be resolved. Max attempts to help several of the others with their problems but never quite can. Eventually they all learn that he is not a King and is just a boy and some of them become angry with him; especially Carol who becomes very violent and upset. How did they think this would be ok for kids?Most movies have a crisis where two of the main characters have a falling out towards the end and they spend the last twenty minutes or so making everything ok again. There are some exceptions like Million Dollar Baby, Gladiator and Old Yeller, where the ending isn't exactly peachy; but the characters in those films learned valuable lessons about themselves and accomplished great feats. I'm not sure that Max really learned anything here and even more so I don't think the creatures did. Sure Max missed his mom, but did he learn anything? Are kids going to take anything positive from this film at all? The reality is, they would benefit more from watching Spongebob Squarepants.

Claudio Carvalho 2012-05-01 10:55:27

Awfully Boring and Overrated

In a snowing day, the spoiled and stubborn Max builds an igloo on theother side of his sidewalk. When his older sister Claire and herfriends arrive, Max throws snowballs in the group and they begin a war.Max hides in his igloo, but the teenagers jump over it and destroy hisshelter. The upset Max wets Claire's room with snow and then he doesnot obey his mother and bites her. He runs away home wearing his wolfcostume and mentally travels to an imaginary world inhabited with wildthings that elect the boy their king.I have tried to watch "Where the Wild Things Are" for three nights, butI slept in all attempts. Today I tried for the fourth time and guesswhat happened? Once again I slept. When I woke up, I decided to tryagain and I finally succeeded. What an awfully boring and overrated film this crap is! What is itstarget regarding audiences, adults or children? I believe neitheradults nor children will enjoy this annoying and pointless film. Theboy Max is probably autistic and irritates with his attitudes; even themusic score is bothersome. Better off if I had slept again. My vote istwo.Title (Brazil): "Onde Vivem os Monstros" ("Where the Monsters Live")

2012-04-29 16:06:10

Not an interesting twist

This review is from: Where the Wild Things Are [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Clearly, Spike Jones had to add a lot to the tale to make this simple book into a movie, but the story felt bloated and uninteresting.

2012-04-29 05:54:00

Great adaptation of a great story

This review is from: Where the Wild Things Are (DVD) I'm using it for a church youth group discussion later in the fall. I'm looking forward to seeing & hearing their thoughts, reactions and insights.