Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
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A young boy with a wild imagination sails away to an island of monsters where he is crowned king.
The story
Max is an emotional eight-year-old boy with an active imagination and divorced parents. After his older sister Claire refuses to intervene when her friends crush his snow fort with him inside during a snowball fight, Max furiously trashes her bedroom and destroys a frame that he made for her. Later, his mother Connie invites her boyfriend, Adrian, to dinner. Furious that she is not spending time with him, Max puts on a wolf costume and lashes out by biting her shoulder, before running away from home. At the edge of a river, Max finds a small boat that he boards, eventually reaching an island inhabited by large monsters known as the Wild Things.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Max is an emotional eight-year-old boy with an active imagination and divorced parents. After his sister Claire ignores him during a snowball fight, Max puts on a wolf costume and runs away from home. He finds a boat and sails to an island inhabited by seven large monsters called Wild Things. When they attempt to eat him, Max claims to be a king with magical powers. Impressed, they crown him king, and he leads them in a 'wild rumpus'. The next day, Max builds a massive fort with the Wild Things. After a series of events, including a conflict over whether some creatures are outsiders and a physical altercation that leads to a member being injured, the truth of Max's lack of power is revealed. After a confrontation with the leader, Carol, Max realizes his mother's feelings and decides to leave. He returns a frame to Carol and sails home, where he reconciles with his mother.
- First release year
- 2009
- Runtime (minutes)
- 100
- Production countries
- Australia; United States; Germany
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Spike Jonze
- Writers
- Spike Jonze · screenplay; Dave Eggers · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Max Records · Max; Catherine Keener · Connie; Mark Ruffalo · Adrian; James Gandolfini · Carol; Lauren Ambrose · KW; Chris Cooper · Douglas; Forest Whitaker · Ira; Catherine O'Hara · Judith
- Genres
- fantasy; adventure; drama
- Themes
- imagination; childhood
- Tone and mood
- dark; uncompromising
- Premise and plot tags
- fantasy; adventure; drama; magical realism
- Source material / true-story basis
- Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book
- Content notes
- mild violence; scary scenes
- Reception
- The film was a financial failure, grossing $100 million against an equal production budget, but received positive reviews from critics, though significant concerns were raised over whether or not it was suitable for young audiences.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 73% · scale: percentage · review count: 270; Metacritic · score: 71 · scale: 100 · review count: 37; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- The film was originally intended to be an animated feature by Walt Disney Productions.; A novelization of the film was published by McSweeney's.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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