by Sapphire Mason-Brown

Created on: December 14, 2009   Last Updated: December 15, 2009

Upon entering the theatre to view Where the Wild Things Are, one thing was so glaringly obvious, so blatantly apparent, so gosh darn clear; despite the rating of PG and the film having been based on a childrens' book, the number of children could be counted on one hand. From the Arcade fire track in the trailer to it's general feeling of melancholy-nostalgia, we knew from it's advertising genesis that Where the Wild Things was no Golden Compass; it had the aesthetics of a children's film with the content of light-hearted film for adults.

That's not to say Where the Wild Things Are isn't suitable for children, it still a wonderful adventure featuring a child protagonist that many young people can relate to. But Spike Jonze still manages to explore some of the most prominent features of the human experience; lonliness, betrayal, emptiness, unadulterated joy and above all, love and accepting it.

The original Where the Wild Things are isn't the most complex of stories; a young boy named Max sporting a wolf outfit gets up to three kinds of mischief and is sent to bed without supper. His room grows into another land and he sails to the land of the Wild Things. Naturally, Max becomes king of the Wild things but eventually wants to go back home where he finds his supper waiting for him...and it was still hot. Of course, it were directly translated into a film, it would probably be less than five minutes long. Jonze makes Max (Max Records) the child of a workaholic mother and a departed father and the sibling of sister who is edging closer to adulthood. Max is not extraordinary, he is just a child at the cusp of adolescence not wanting to take that final jump.

Our story opens with our protagonist Max having a snow fight with his sister and her friends culminating in Max's igloo being destroyed. The moment is apsolutely crushing, Max is destraught and furious. In revenge Max ransacks his sister's bedroom before guilt begins to trickle in. In these moments, any reservations about our leading actor's acting ability are put to rest. In these moments, we become fully aware of who we are in this tale as we see a moment from our childhood on screen.

Enter Katherine Keener. Katherine Keener plays Max's mother; a stabilising influence and source of comfort and love. Like most other aspects of the story, Spike Jonze adds an addiditional dimension to the reasoning behind Max's mischeif. Unlike the book, where no explanation is really given, Max's mischief is the result

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