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I’ll admit it: I never really loved Maurice Sendak’s book Where the Wild Things Are. It’s not that I didn’t like it, just that it never really spoke to me as a young kid. Maybe it was the fact that a tantrum-throwing brat gets sent to his room and runs away to his imagination land in protest. That just wasn’t who I was as a kid. I was a good kid who loved school and understood why my parents set rules for me. (Spare me the jests or name calling.) I also didn’t view imaginary worlds as an escape from a life I hated. Instead, my imagination took me to places where the impossible became possible and true magic existed. To think of it as an escape from life never quite fit. For me, imagination was an augmentation to life.

(Note: It’s funny that my sister, who was definitely the rebellious sibling, told me the other day that this was her favorite childhood book.)

Because I had no fond memories of the book, I didn’t approach the movie with a huge amount of enthusiasm. I was prepared for it to be visually stunning and emotionally touching. I was also somewhat hoping for the story to take on new relevance now that I’ve gone through my rebellious stage (five years of raving at Burning Man, as an example!).

After watching the movie I am still as apathetic as I had been before. In fact, I couldn’t stand the little turd nugget Max in the movie even more than in the book. He annoyed me and I found it very difficult to relate to him. And, the angsty monsters were so emotionally draining that I wished Spike Jonze had included a pharmacy in the imaginary world so the Wild Things could all dose up on Prozac.

I was also a little miffed that the movie changed the reason for Max’s return home to the real world. In the book he gets homesick which makes him realize that he does love and miss him mom. In the movie, Max fails at being King and realizes he had better go home because of he’s no more successful at being King of All the Wild Things than he was at being a normal boy in the real world.

The moral of the story was also so damn heavy-handed. As King, Max learns what it’s like to be a parent. He realizes that the parental figure often does things that the underlings (monsters, kids) don’t understand. And, that sometimes the decisions that are best for everyone are not well liked by some. Max gets a huge dose of reality (a sledge hammer of reality hitting us in the face) when KW tells him that the monsters lives (parents’ lives) are already difficult without Carol’s tantrums (Max’s tantrums) making things worse. Okay we get it: Carol represents Max’s tantrums and KW represents Max’s mom’s challenges, to an extent. However, the fact that KW runs away when the relationships in her life get difficult, also suggests that she reflects Max’s psyche and actions.

At this point, Max understands and is now inclined to go back to his own reality. But, here’s where I think the movie was unclear: Did Max return because he finally understood how tough things are for his mom? Or did he leave because he failed as King, made the monsters’ lives worse, and is somewhat afraid he’ll be eaten by them? I know the obvious answer, but the movie was a little vague on this point.

Some people I saw the movie with hated it. A lot. The rest of us were indifferent — we didn’t love it but we didn’t hate it. I suppose if you were enamored with the book, you’ll probably go ga-ga over the movie.

Oh, and WTF is up with those stupid birds Bob and Terry? OMFG. FAIL.