Initially "Severed Thumbs" was just going to be for horror movies, but I couldn't think of any other rating system so I'm going to keep with it. As always, I don't know much about film so these reviews are based on pure observation.
I went into Where the Wild Things Are with a couple things to expect. Beautiful landscapes and effects, Spike Jonze, and the expansion of a ten sentence children's book into a two hour movie. I also heard two people's takes on it, one said boring as hell, the other said it was really good. So I insisted on seeing it for myself. It starts out with Max chasing his dog then it goes to him playing in the snow, annoying his big sister, and having her friends get carried away and crushing his soul and his igloo. There's more padding where we see Max's family life, his single mom trying to get it on, and then him being a brat and running away, first quarter of the movie done, now onto the Island.
We first see the wild things bickering amongst themselves because Carol {the main monster?} is destroying their homes. He's blaming everyone for not being there for him and he's all alone. Max relates, helps Carol destroy homes, and then almost gets eaten by the Wild Things before he convinces them he's a king. Then we get a big fun monster romp and everyone falls asleep in a big pile, but not before Max meets K.W. the monster who pissed off Carol because she has new friends. K.W. is a voice of reason in the otherwise hectic world of caricatures of different moods and types of children. Then we are introduced to the rest of the Wild Things before Carol and Max tour the kingdom in a huge montage to hip, Karen O stylings, Second Quarter of Movie and first half done.
Second half starts with Carol showing Max his secret place and giant diorama including miniatures of all the Wild Things. At this moment I was expecting Judge Frollo to come in but instead Max and Carol decide to make a huge fortress and playground where everyone will be happy. Construction goes great, everyone's happy and... MONTAGE!!! At this moment, Max and K.W. have been getting closer and Max is having doubts about this King Business so She takes Max to see her two muppets...i mean...friends. They "talk" and K.W. brings her friends back with them. Carol gets jealous and so ends 3/4 of the movie.
Last 1/4 of the movie hell breaks loose. There's a dirt clod war turned sour, The Wild Things get restless, Max admits he's not a king, and Carol goes crazy. The Kingdom Crumbles, Max decides to go home, and I'm getting exhausted just writing this, end credits.
It's not that this was a bad movie. It was beautifully done, the imagery was fantastic, and it had some good messages. The Wild Things were personifications of all of Max's lesser qualities and he learned to cope with his own feelings in seeing these things act foolish. The biggest weakness of this movie (besides Karen O's ear piercing Warble) was it's length. Those very same messages the movie conveyed in 2 hours it could have more effectively conveyed in 90 minutes. This movie's saving graces were it's imagery and it's ability to dig deep into the soul and bring out the darker sides of child hood. Growing up I didn't have many friends. I lived in the woods, and when I moved out of the woods and to Jersey I just felt out of place. I didn't find anywhere to fit in until my Senior Year of High School. This movie brought back those feelings of loneliness and confusion. When most people say they feel like a kid again they remember summers from school, fun with friends, and not having a care. I think of feeling out of place, questioning everything, and an unparalleled awkwardness toward the world around me, and that's why I give this movie 4 out of 6 Severed Thumbs.
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