I went and watched it with my four year old brother and dad, and I CRIED. It was an amazing movie, I have to say, but very, very violent and disturbing. I had nightmares. First of all, the opening scenes made me tear up a little bit. Max is making a snowfort and her sister and her friends (some boys) come over and the guys start tearing it apart, and they jump on top of him, causing him to cry and his lip to bleed. Then, they just leave. The mother swears at him later and is emotionally abusive to him, which was horrible. He then runs away and finds a little boat and goes through the ocean to get to a tiny island, where he finds the "Wild Things". In short form, they have fun together, but there are some extremely disturbing and scenes. They can also be very gruesome, such as when someone's arm is torn off, and also one of the characters goes on a rant and tears after Max, proclaiming he's going to eat him, so another character hides Max in her sticky, gooey, dark MOUTH. Ew. Horrible messages throughout the movie except at the end when Max comes home and the family bonds (sort of). All in all, it's a fantastic movie, very well put together, but NOT AT ALL like the popular's children's book. Not for anyone under ten, and even that's pushing it. Gruesome, disturbing, violent, but in the end ... amazing. :)

This is not a kids film. I just want to get that misconception off your mind right now. Anyway, this is a very good film for several reasons. One, it doesn't treat you like a little kid and spoon feed you corporate approved morals. All the characters have flaws and are not shown as role models. All the wild things are essentialy different facets of anyone's personality, making the film very transcendent. Also, it doesn't beat you over the head with obnoxious slapstick like most of today's tripe. It leaves room for lots of--gasp!--dramatic moments! So anyway, even though it isn't for kids under 10, anyone over 10 who knows that not every movie is happy times and gumdrops will be satisfied, at least.

I see that a lot of parents here are complaining about the movies violence and dark themes. What you need to know is that this movie is not for kids under nine, or anyone with a weak stomach. The movie is for adults, particularly those with troubled or depressed children, and the movie shows a very detailed, accurate, and intense view of the hardships these children face. The main character, Max, is a chronically depressed boy, who does not only unleash his anger very brutally, destroying other people's possesions, hurting himself, etc. The viewer can infer that these things have been going on for awhile. He also keeps grudges. In fact, the movies opening scene is of an angry Max chasing after and hurting a small dog in his rage. The scene is very intense, but also relatively brief. After that, it shows him building an igloo in the snow. You can also tell at this scene that his father was divorced with his mother,and Max misses him. We will examine this more later. Anyway, he sees his teenage sister and some of her friends, and challenges them to a snowball fight. But things get rough, and not only is Max hurt, his igloo is destroyed. Later, he goes into her room and, in a display of anger, trashes and destroys many of her valuable possesions, including a card he made for her for Valentines day. When his mother comes home from work he tells her what happened. He gets her attention by doing an odd sort of dance act, similar to the actions of many depressed children. He also tells her a story he made up, about a vampire and some building. This is obviously related to the snow scene, as you will be able to tell. At one time, it shows his room where there are many traces of his depression.(Two headed lego people, books and clothes strewn everywhere, etc.) He comes down for dinner, in his wolf costume, and is shocked to see his mother and a man, probably her boyfriend, kissing and drinking wine. Fearing that the man will replace his father, he gets angry, hurts his mother, and runs away from home. We now transition into Max's mind and imagination he finds a boat, and sails on to an island. On the island, he meets a very wild, destructive, and intense group of monsters called The Wild Things. They threaten to eat him, but he claims to be a great ruler from a distant land, and they grant him their king. As the movie progresses, the overall feel becomes very shaggy and sad. Max tries to make the place a sort of perfect realm, where nothing bad ever happens, but things soon go awry. One of the Wild Things, K.W., introduces him to two of her friends, who are owls. Notice how the Wild Things personalities are all parts of Max, with Judith being depressed, K.W. being selfless and inclusive, and Max's friend Carol, being very much like him. However, Carol becomes jealous of the owls, and becomes very angry, much like Max, and in one intense sequence, rips Douglas's arm off.(No blood is shown.) Fortunately, K.W. helps him escape. Soon, Max begins to miss his mother, and eventually sails off to his home. Carol realizes the error of his ways, and sobs as Max leaves. We exit Max's mind and return to the real world.Max returns home, and he seems to have been gone several hours. His mother welcomes him gladly home, and while she has been generally oblivious to his problem earlier, she seems to recognize it now. It can be infered that after the movie, Max gets professional help. With all this in mind, you must realize that this movie is very unlike the book, is very dark and intense, and is most certainly not for the same audience as the one for the book.

now, i don't get scared easily watching movies or whatever, but, this movie was just too scary for me, plus it was long and drawn out, i mean, most of it was whenever they were player this scary game that seemed to never end, and then in one scene the little boy got into one of the wild things mouths and hid, which was way too gross, anyways, i don't suggest this movie to ANYONE, it's terrible. also, there were parents leaving the movie theater with their kids!!!

I left Spike Jonez's "Where the Wild Things Are" in something of a trance. I went in expecting an exciting kid's movie, and left having experienced an ingenious exercise in symbolism, visual art, and psychology. Not exactly every four year-old's dream. The film tells the seemingly simple tale of Max, a boy starving for attention from his divorced mother and quintessentially teenaged sister. When he becomes fed up with his family's ignorance, he violently lashes out at his mother and runs away in remorse. He finds a sailboat and begins an uncharted journey. He ends up on an island inhabited by towering creatures that, while at first sight are incredibly intimidating, seem more like real people than most film characters. One of the many strengths of the film is its exquisite subtlety; the message is so veiled that it could be interpreted a variety of ways. To me, the "Wild Things" were each a part of Max's psyche, representing different emotions (his "inner demons"), there to counsel him through his hardships. Sound deep? It is, and it's not really for young ones. There are tense and scary scenes, and they will likely be upset at the overall dreariness of the creatures and the movie. (However, they will undoubtedly enjoy the gorgeous visual style of the film; very raw and rough.) The ending of this film is one of the more brilliant endings since "The Sixth Sense," sending your mind into an all-out sprint to dig deeper and deeper into the movie's endless well of morals and metaphors. And it's a well worth digging into. One of my favorite movies this year. *Just for the record, Max Records (Max in the movie) is also from Oregon. YAY!

The messages were weird, scary , and downright depressing. I used to LOVE the book but the movie has totally ruined it for me. It's absolutly nothing like the book and i'm kind of dissapointed with it.

Positive messages. It`s one of those movies that you either love it or you hate it. I think it was a little weird, and younger kids may be scared by the "wild things" but it`s not meant to be violent at all. It`s actually a very sweet movie, in a weird kind of way. I don`t think it was at all like the picture book. Kids will love the book. =)

This is an amazing movie. It's leagues better than the garbage they churn out for kid's movies these days. You know why? This isn't a kid's movie, at least in the normal sense. It's appropriate for kids...there are some tense moments for younger kids...but older kids and adults will get way more out of it. It's emotional, dark, moody, and incredibly heartfelt. This isn't a movie that shies away from difficult themes, so if you want your kid to grow up sheltered from the big, bad world and believe that life is all happy and perfect, avoid this film. Otherwise, see it!!

Parents need to know that this movie isn't a walk in the park. I was alternately laughing and crying in this incredibly visual movie. It is so beautiful and full of powerful emotion kids can relate to. I have never seen anything like it. Spike Jonze is amazing.