- The boy, Max, runs away from his problems (which he does in the book, but it's obviously in his imagination instead of literally like in the movie).
- Max is afraid of the monsters, and never becomes king in his heart. I like that in the book Max rules the monsters and becomes a wild thing, then discovers he misses his mom and doesn't want to be.
- - the movie just feels like there is no resolution of any of his issues. He goes, he discovers the grass is not greener. He comes back.
- There is a LOT of violence. The main monster character was like Bear on his worst days . Super scary. The worst part is he violently smashes everyone's home, literally rips another Monster's arm off, and doesn't show any remorse. It's never his fault. He expects Max (the king) to solve all his problems and when they aren't resolved then he just blames it on Max.
Basically this movie is too violent, too close to home and has no resolution of issues in pretty much any way. The book showed more in just a few pages than the entire movie! I wish I hadn't let the kids watch it, and I'm glad I only paid $1 to rent it. I give it a C-.
7 comments:
I will avoid it completely. GB doesn't need THAT right now!
Isn't the book for very young children? I'm surprised that your kids would have been interested in watching the movie.
Now Alice in Wonderland, THAT'S a great movie. Johnny Depp is excellent as the Mad Hatter.
Miz Kizzle,
I love this book. I wanted to see the movie. The kids just saw it as an action movie with monsters which is probably why they picked it. Of course the biggest reason is that most of my kids are younger emotionally than chronologically.
They do want to see Alice, but I might want to watch it first. Sometimes these are more violent than they can handle.
Mary
I loved WTWTA, I took a different take on it. Yes it is a little violent but I loved that the wild things had all sorts of issues and that they worked on learning to a be togheter even though it was hard and sometimes not what they all wanted. I loved that they learned that Max was not the answer to their problems and that they had to learn to work it out as a "family" and that saying goodbye can be really hard even if it is the best thing. My boys and I had lots of great conversations after about how they sometimes feel like the wild things. They all also liked that the Mama waited for him and still loved him even though he had made her really scared by running away.
Remember though my kids are 8 and 9, so not in the same age range as your older ones and perhaps still a little more bendable when it comes to perspectives.
Alice was very dark and scary when she first falls into the rabbit hole. The fall, the people she meets at first, the getting chased by monsters... it's all scary. The story gets better and Alice eventually becomes a hero; I liked her transformation.
I saw it as a chance for Max to empathize with his mom. It was like he was the parent dealing with the monster's issues. The monsters expected Max to solve everything, to do everything, to be everything, to know everything, and when he didn't meet their expectations, they blamed him just as Max had been doing to his mom. Max was being angry and violent to his mom. The monsters were being angry and violent. Max kind of got to see things from his mother's perspective.
Having said that, I do think parents should screen this movie first as it is too much for some children to see.
thanks for confirming my mother's intuition. I was thinking it might not be safe.
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