Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak
When I first heard that this classic storybook was going to be made into a feature film, I was very excited, but also wondered how a simple story could be made into a 90+ minute tale. However, the story of Max and his "wild rumpus" was wonderfully displayed in film.
In the story, Max is a young boy who likes to wear a wolf suit and cause mischief, ranging from chasing the dog to making forts and telling his mother that he will "eat her up." When he does this, his mother sends him to bed without his dinner. While confined to his room for the evening, a forest magically "grows" in his room, and he is able to sail to the land where the "wild things" live. He becomes the king of the wild things--gigantic monsters that have terrible roars, teeth and eyes, and they spend all their days playing and having a "wild rumpus." Eventually, though, Max gets tired of being their king and just wants to go home, so he gets back in his boat and sails home, where is dinner is waiting for him in his room--and it's still hot.
The movie definitely hits all the "high notes" of the book, like Max sailing to the place where the wild things are, as well as all of his fun and games with the wild things. The characters in the movie look remarkably similar to those in the story--like they were taken off the paper and brought to life. The wild things, luckily, have some depth to them--they each have their own personality and problems, as well as place in the tribe. In the movie, Max stays a bit longer in the forest, helping the wild things create a new place to live. Another big difference to me is the way that Max arrives at the "place where the wild things live"--his room does not exactly transform into the forest like in the book; instead, Max runs away to an ocean nearby and then sails there. This is an okay thing with me, since I'm sure it would have been nearly impossible for the book to be completely recreated on film.
Overall, I think this book/movie combination is a great one--the movie helps the characters in the story have some life given to them, as well as taking the viewer to Max's world. The differences are insignificant enough that they do not affect the original story, yet are enough to help it be a movie of adequate length. I like both the book and the movie, although honestly still like the book the best.
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