Product Description

"Let the wild rumpus start!" Nine-year-old Max runs away from home and sails across the sea to become king of the land Where the Wild Things Are. King Max rules a wondrous realm of gigantic fuzzy monsters--but being king may not be as carefree as it looks! Filmmaker Spike Jonze directs a magical, visually astonishing film version of Maurice Sendak's celebrated children's classic, starring an amazing cast of screen veterans and featuring young Max Records in a fierce and sensitive performance as Max.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2683 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2010-03-02
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 101 minutes

Features

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Color; DVD; Widescreen; Subtitled; NTSC

Amazon.com
Through his handcrafted ode to the trials of childhood, Spike Jonze puts his own unique imprint on Maurice Sendak's enduring classic. In the prologue, 9-year-old Max (Max Records) stomps around the house, feeling neglected. When his mom (Catherine Keener) sends him to bed without supper, Max runs away (something he doesn't do in the book). He finds a boat and sails to a distant land where fuzzy monsters are raising a rumpus in the forest. Since his wolf suit allows him to fit right in, he joins the fray, catching the eye of Carol (James Gandolfini, excellent), who notes, approvingly, "I like the way you destroy stuff. There's a spark to your work that can't be taught." With that, they pronounce the diminutive creature king, hoping he can bring cohesion to their fractured family. After Max comes across Carol's scale-model town, he decides they should build a real one, but the project stalls as Alexander (Paul Dano) and Douglas (Chris Cooper) mope, Judith (Catherine O'Hara) browbeats Ira (Forest Whitaker), and Carol pines for K.W. (Lauren Ambrose), who prefers the company of owls Bob and Terry. Max realizes he has to make a choice: stay with the wild things or return home, where he has to keep his aggressive impulses in check. For readers of Sendak's slim tome, his decision won't come as a surprise, but Jonze ends the story on a lovely grace note. Until that time, the squabbling is a bit much--these monsters never stop talking--but Jonze, cowriter Dave Eggers, the Jim Henson Company, and singer/songwriter Karen O. have gone all-out to re-create the inner world of a child with as much empathy as was mustered for the inner adult world of Jonze's Being John Malkovich. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Video Description
From KIDS FIRST!: Maurice Sendak’s book comes to life with lush cinematography and incredible puppetry. Things aren’t going so well in young Max’s life so he runs away, and his imagination takes him to the land where the wild things are. In this land, Max claims to be a king so he won’t get eaten, and the wild things look to him for leadership. While being king can be lots of fun, Max learns that being responsible for everyone isn’t so great, especially when his subjects get hurt by his own poor choices. It’s an unsettling tale about a boy who deals with the hardships in life by throwing severe tantrums. Some adult jurors who viewed this title felt that it was inappropriate for Max to lash out so much. However, some child viewers watching the film came from dysfunctional families. They immediately connected with Max, and saw how his dealing with the tantrums of Carol, one of the wild things, showed how anger and lashing out wasn’t the way to deal with life’s problems. KIDS FIRST! Child Juror Comments: This movie was okay. It was fun to watch at first, and then it got sort of boring near the end. The storyline was good like the wild things taught Max that it’s okay to not be wild, and that you should love your family. It looked okay. The wild things looked pretty weird. My favorite part was when the wild thing got angry and he punched the chicken’s arm off and sand came out. After that happened the chicken didn’t care. He just said, “Oh, that was my favorite arm!” I loved when the wild thing was playing around with Max, and he was jumping. He hit his face on the branch and did a backflip, and he didn’t care. He just thought it was fun.

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful.
A misunderstood classic
By Irv Shingling
Directed by the wonderfully inventive Spike Jonze, WTWTA follows young Max as he runs away from home following an argument with his mother and finds solace in a world of his own. He sets sail and washes up on an island inhabited by furry beings who take him in and crown him as their new king- unfortunately they have eaten every other king they have ever had. The boys relationship with the wild things is loving but often strained at times. He finds in them what he found back at home- love, jealousy, rivalry, acceptance...
Let me say that this film looks stunning. The voice acting is brilliant, the writing and directing are sublime and the pace of the movie is measured, but perfectly so. I think the reason that people are slamming this movie is because they are approaching it a kids film, which it isn't. It is an adult film about being a kid, and how hard it could be and how we would often find comfort in make-believe.
In my opinion, this is one of the most affecting films I have seen in years. Complex in so many ways- I am sure that this movie will reveal itself more as you revisit it. Don't go in expecting a fast-paced kiddies adventure movie, but instead look at the previous work of the brilliant Spike Jonze to see how he has grown as a film-maker and yet lost nothing of what made him so great in the firt place. This is a grown-up, sad, sometimes unsettling look at childhood and imagination, and I for one absolutely loved it.
The blu-ray transfer is terrific also. The short film Higgedy Piggedy Pop which is included in the extras is wonderful, and I am looking forward to delving into some of the other extras included on this disc.

81 of 112 people found the following review helpful.
A movie best suited for 8 or 9 year olds... PG-9?
By M. Mullin
Perhaps I didn't read far enough in the other reviews...but it seemed pretty much like a bunch of adults discussing the deep psychological imagery, etc., but not how the movie makes a kid feel. A kid, I said, not an over-intellectualizing adult.

So I'm going to tell you how my twin, almost 7 year old, very well-behaved, socially well-liked, intelligent and yet, quite tenderhearted girls responded. I'm grateful that I watched it with them, I'll tell you that. I did have to comfort them a little because Max was having a pretty rough day for a little guy, and it made them feel very bad for him. You have to put up with quite a bit of grimness before you get to the fanciful part in this movie, and even that isn't ever really what I'd call stress-free...

One of my girls doesn't feel well today, so it doesn't surprise me that she chose to go to her room mid-way thru it and watch a Barbie movie. You don't feel well, and you prefer comforting things, I can understand that. The other stayed for the whole thing and when I asked her what she thought at the end, she said it was "okay." I did notice her tearing up when Max was floating away and he and the monsters were howling at each other across the water. That was a pretty nice, sentimental ending. Keep in mind, though, that just before that, on the beach, one of the monsters admitted that Max was the only king they ever had that they didn't EAT... and I think the implications of that are a little gothic, but I'm pretty sure my kids missed the significance of that little reference. Probably best.

There are those who claim that exposing children to "actual life-like stress" in a movie is good for them, instead of the perpetually sunny characters in say, a Disney movie. Well, you were all children once, and doubtlessly, you remember thinking that most things that were supposed to be "good for you", just weren't very pleasant? I know I do. I'm not sure either girl really enjoyed the movie, Which is why they wanted to watch a movie in the first place, to be entertained. It's a movie - not therapy, not medicine.

The fact is, real life is only too happy to shove hardship and ugliness and fear their direction, I don't need to spoon-feed it to them as entertainment. I don't think of childhood as a weakness or being too immature somehow; a happy child has a good foundation to grow into a strong adult. Childhood is a time to build up their immunity to negativity, fill up the tank of their self-esteem, and show them the sweet parts of life that we hope will become their goals as adults. I'm going to let mine enjoy childhood and innocence, because that is the stage they are supposed to be at right now, and I know adulthood and maturity will come with time. I won't block it, but I reserve the right to cushion it a little bit and let them digest it in smaller, more manageable pieces at a time.

Now, you might think that a boy would appreciate this movie a little more, perhaps...and you may be right. Max is "all boy" and them some, quite a handful. ADHD anyone? Clearly, Mom has a lot on her mind, being a single mom with at least two children, one appears to be a teenager, she's not doing well at work and also may be seeing a new man, which is guaranteed to cause issues with a boy Max's age. Max is a surprisingly sensitive boy at times, even a bit melancholic for his age and obviously has some aggression issues. The first part, overall, has a pervasive feeling of depression.

As others have mentioned, one difference in the movie vs. the book was that Max ran away and hid instead of having him go to the Wild Place from his bedroom, like the book. They could just have easily have done it the other way...but I understood the imagery of running away from what you think is how other people treat you, and discovering that you can't escape yourself or your problems by doing that, because it comes with you... Where ever you go, there you are.

The boy matures a bit during the movie, mostly because the monsters, for the most part, seem slightly less mature, emotionally, than he is. One of the best ways I've discovered as a teaching assistant to control children who misbehave is to give them enough responsibility to keep them too busy to continue with the undesirable habits, like having a person who always talks in line be in charge of watching to make sure nobody talks in line. Of course, the monsters are supposed to be aspects of himself that he is trying to control and integrate peacefully into himself as a whole person, but kids will watch it on the obvious level...and to them, the monsters aren't Max.

Is it a good movie? Yes, if you are an adult appreciating it for it's cinematic or psychological merits. If you are a kid... well, I work with third graders, 8 or 9 years old, and I think they'd be okay with it more than my girls who are only nearing 7 years old, and are in first grade. This falls in that gray area between PG and PG-13, I can only call it... PG-9? I do wish that with all the children's movies which have come out lately that have incorporated some really kind of adult themes, that there was some way of telling which ones to be more careful about. Notice, I didn't say, avoid, or censor...just be careful, take into account how your child may react. Some children may have a more sympathetic reaction than others. I guess it just comes down to my responsibility as a parent possibly being to watch the movie before I allow them to, just so I know what to look for. Until they're a few years older, I'll just have to do that.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
The spirit of the book
By Maber
I absolutely loved this movie. The book was one of my favorites growing up, and I read it to my kids. Would I show my kids (3 and 2) this movie? Nope, too old for them. Do I love it myself? Absolutely. It's more adult than the book, but I think captures the spirit of the book in a very real way. I absolutely love it.