Movie Wednesdays!

Cause who does movie reviews on Wednesdays?

Last Friday Josh and I saw Where the Wild Things Are with our good friend Dana and her good friend Brittany (who is now our friend as well!) So this is going to be our first "together" review. We'll see how this goes ...

K: So Joshua, Where the Wild Things Are ... first thoughts?

J: Great book made into a good movie. The movie was visually striking and I thought the kiddo who played Max, Mr. Max Records, was really impressive. But I would have hated it if I was 8 years old.

K: Yea, you know how you wanted to name our first dog Max and I said no because I thought that Max was a weak name and that we could do better? Well I think a combination of Max in the movie and how awesome and precious little Max Records was when he was on Conan changed my mind. I think we can name our first dog Max!

J: Holy crap, that's fantastic. I'll hold you to that. You told me you enjoyed your movie-going experience while we were still in the theater... still feel that way?

K: Yes definitely! I mean, let's be real - I cried - but who wasn't ready for that? And I'm pretty sure that my mom can vouch for how I would have hated it as an 8 year old too! But watching it as a 24 year old with all the memories that I have of reading the book when I was younger it was incredible! And much more relatable than I expected. I knew the book was a short picture book with 10 sentences total and movies are long with much more than 10 sentences. So, I was expecting a lot of "artsy filler" I guess and I was a little nervous about it feeling long or stretched. But they did a fantastic job of making Max's story accessible and believable. I don't want to ruin the story for those that haven't seen it yet so I won't elaborate! The characters were really what sold me though. The heart, struggles and personality that the movie gives to the "wild things" are so endearing and felt so realistic even though they were puppets! I just think that Spike Jonze did a great job of giving life and extra dimension to 2-D characters that we all know and love.

J: A movie about childhood that's not really for children. My first reaction after the credits rolled was how scared I would have been if I was a kid. I read this article about how some parents were pretty upset. I'll just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie but I feel it should have been a bit more geared to a younger crowd. We talked about how many levels there were to this film. Symbolism is everywhere. Max does a great job showing the frustration and incapacity of an 8 year old. But its much too realistic and complicated to be enjoyable to a child. I dont know if that was the right move.

K: I don't know. I see your point but I liked the levels and the symbolism just like you did and I liked how realistic and complicated it was (which is surprising for me). It gave the movie that depth that makes me want to go see it again. And I realize that I am not your typical movie-goer but from the moment I saw the first preview I was not thinking about it as a kid's movie because I was a little creeped out (in an awesome way) by the previews. And from the little that I did hear about it I was able to get the feeling that it was going to be more intense than say Up or Monsters vs Aliens. And I hear the argument that it is a children's book about an 8 yr old so why shouldn't I be able to take a kid to see the movie. However I feel that the movie allows "kids" to continue to grow up with the story. To me it means that someday when we have a kid, they will grow up hearing Where the Wild Things Are and looking at the pictures and let their imagination create the story. When they get older they will have a chance to watch that same story as a movie that presents the characters they know with a lot more going on under the surface that they can connect to and I hope learn from.

J: I'm looking forward to the DVD so Jonze can spoon-feed me what in the world he was talking about.

K: You could also get the book based on the screenplay - that would probably tell you alot too. It's called The Wild Things by Dave Eggers and it is a novel based on the Where the Wild Things Are screenplay. I think Spike Jonze, Maurice Sendak and Dave Eggers all worked pretty closely on both projects. Just saying ...

J: That's probably a better plan. I think we both agree this a film you should see at some point... just not when you're 8. Right?

K: Yes! Absolutely! Agreed!