Is Where the Wild Things Are Too Scary for Your Kid?
A Jim Henson Movie Litmus Test
The Where the Wild Things Aretrailer is one of the best trailers in recent years because it shows the view just enough without really giving away the entire movie. However, the trailer paints the wild things as fun-loving, which they are, but there are a few wild things who may invoke nightmares.
Even the Maurice Sendak version of the book has been giving kids' imaginations a reason to toss and turn at night. Director Spike Jonze had his wild things faithful to the Sendak book, forgoing CGI wild things for Muppet-style wild things. Even though they are covered in fur, these are still ten-foot-tall creatures with the appropriate mass. The decision not to use CGI to generate the wild things makes them more real to children who have been programmed to be used to the CGI aesthetic, such as creatures in a Harry Potter movie.
Young children might wish to leave the theatre the moment one of the wild things appears to be a threat to the human boy Max, as played by Max Records. Even though nothing bad will happen to Max, the movie deals with some real-life mother-son emotional issues and uses the world of the wild things as an allegory of Max's psyche. Needless to say, some creatures are wilder than others.
If you are not sure whether your child will bolt for the exits, try a simple litmus test of their maturity level using a pair of films using classic Jim Henson puppetry:
The Muppet Movie (1979) - The first Muppet movie is generally light-hearted enough for any child, but there is one Muppet in particular, who might be frightening for small children, and that is Doglion, a tall Muppet who closely resembles one of the wild things in Maurice Sendak's book. If your child is disturbed by Doglion without laughing at him, your child may not like Where The Wild Things Are.
The Dark Crystal (1982) - Henson's The Dark Crystal may be the truest litmus test for the Spike Jonze movie. Even though it has a positive message, the movie features a lot of potentially frightening creatures and situations. If the child can watch The Dark Crystal riveted and absorb the film's lessons, they are ready for Where The Wild Things Are.
The helpful element of Where The Wild Things Are is that children get to experience the world of the wild things through the eyes of Max, who will be equally surprised and inquisitive. Just know as a parent Max will not be harmed, and that should be enough to keep your child grounded. It might actually help if your child reads the book beforehand, so they know what to expect from Where The Wild Things Are.
Sources:
IMDB.com provided movie information.
Muppet Wiki, "Doglion"
Published by Bob Dobalina
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2 Comments
Post a CommentThe ANIMATION is beautiful. The movie, plot (ha), characters, and themes are TERRIBLE. From the time Max bites his mom and she throws him to the ground and her "boyfriend" wades into the melee, it's awful, agonizing. My 15-year-old wanted to go see this because she loved the book as a child. We went. She first asked, "Who is this for? Not me. Not kids. Who?" Then she asked, "What were they on when they made this movie?!" Then she asked "Can we get out of here?" because it was ruining the memories of the book. We left. What a waste. There were small children speaking stridently in the darkened theatre (the whole movies is dark so it's pitchblack most of the time)--asking why the wild things were fighting, why Max was sad, etc. I don't know the kids, but if my child had been younger and speaking like that, I'd have taken it as a clue to their stress and we'd have left pronto. I'm grateful my young adult knows when to walk out of a movie, and sad that this one was a movie we had to walk o
I thought the movie was beautiful, but after it let out I noticed my children severely disturbed by the story. It was as if their emotional fears were realized even in their fantasies and there was no happy ending. They are only 5 & 6, not mature enough for this. It was as if they were trying to scare them emotionally and it worked.