Remember Max and his distinct wolf white costume?

Well, he is back in Spike Jonze's movie based on the popular children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are.

What seems to be a childish movie turned out not to be so juvenile. Max and his Wild Things have grown up, well figuratively anyway. It has grown to be much more than just a 48 page bedtime story. The issues in the movie connect with the struggles of growing up and the pains of having to face reality. For instance, everyone is too busy for Max. His sister leaves him for her friend, and his mom is either engrossed in her work or preoccupied with her new boyfriend.

Max is portrayed, for most of the story, as a lost little boy. He comes from a broken home where no one in his household is willing to pay attention to him. Even in his fantasy, he cannot make things right. He somehow manages to turn his imaginary friends against him. Max is not your average child. He can lie to save his life. In the beginning of the movie when he first meets the monsters, they want to eat him. In order to remain unharmed, he concocts a story about him being a Viking king and how he can make the monsters' heads explode. However, he remains confused throughout the movie; not even his own mother bothers to help him. Thus, Max decides that his life is not good enough for him and leaves home.

A quote from the movie that shows what I am talking about:

"Max, what is wrong with you? You're out of control!"

"It’s not my fault!" Max replies.

This altercation evolves from little things that happened around the house. When Max walks downstairs, he is disturbed to see his mom sitting on the couch with an unfamiliar man. Then Max and his mom argue over what they were eating for dinner. In the heat of the quarrel, Max bites his mom, signaling a turning point.

After this disagreement, Max runs away from home to his sailboat and drifts away in the ocean. The movie is filled with hidden and profound meaning. The analogy of a tiny sailboat in the monstrous ocean, Max having to climb up a mountain to reach where he wants to be, and the fact that he has ultimate control over monsters that can easily devour him all mean relatively the same thing—Max is boy who feels unloved, seeking for power over something or someone.

I brought my little brothers along to see this movie, and although they did not fully understand the psychology behind it, they enjoyed the big animated puppets. The monsters look enormous against their surroundings, yet so fluffy that I wanted to give them a big ol' hug.

The movie was not what I expected it to be. Towards the end I was blinking back tears as the ending was melancholy and sort of bittersweet.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed seeing my favorite childhood book finally premiering in movie theaters.