Where the Wild Things Are - Peter Pan Gone Bonkers
What is up, Spike Jonze? This movie may have been a childhood love of yours, but you have absolutely no right to direct it. This is the same guy who wrote for the "Jackass" television series, for crying out loud! This was NOT a kid's movie. And I am not all that prudish about movie content.
Some things kids need to be exposed to, some things they do not. I thought Wall-E was okay, because it had a good environmental message and very creative vision, and no one actually got hurt. I thought "UP" was okay, because it showed kids things that they needed to see, which is just my personal opinion on the matter. Yes, they tell the wife she can't have a baby. Yes, they show an animal getting hurt. (So did the Lion King!) Yes they see a man in a funeral home. (ZOMG thats what people do when they die!) Yes they have a man sick dogs on people. It happens, kids. Don't let it happen to you.
But Spike Jonze put many things in a movie that kids do not need to be exposed to. The fact that 10- year- old Max is a well-adjusted child is good. But he has anger issues against his family do not need to be exposed so kids can relate to it. The kid bites his own mother. (Yes, I know it happens). You see someone rip someone else's arm off. You see a kid run away from home to escape his parents. Kids who already are ADHD, or have anger issues do not need the support. Basically the kid gets tired of being ignored (popular problem in America) because his mother actually has a life and cannot wait on him every five minutes. When he acts out to get attention, he bites his mom and, out of anguish and fear at what he had done, he runs away. He sails for days and days and finds an island with large, anthropomorphic monsters who have the emotional maturity of Max. Its like he's playing with his peers, whom he lies to in order for them to make him their king. YAY! He then proceeds to promise to take all their pain away, when he can't even handle his own!
What i really think is that all the "Wild Things" on the island are all different types of kids. There is the silent kid, the one that never gets heard, the one who talks too much, the escapist... This movie is a psychologist's dream, and a parent's nightmare.
I'll give it this much: the problems in this storyline were real; it had a very realistic feel to it. That's the problem, though.
But honestly Max's attitude was the worst throughout the entire movie; this is not a good role model for kids. And the worst part? He doesn't even get in trouble for it, or even says he's sorry. His childlike friends get hurt under his rule, and he doesn't even try to do anything about it. For all the angsty things Max does with these so-called "monsters" he may have said he was sorry TWICE.
The movie then ends with NOTHING resolved, his friend's family is divided, and there is no showing that anyone's lives have improved as a result of the adventure.
While other movies marketed for kids may have negative content, they do not set a negative example as much as this movie does.
Some things kids need to be exposed to, some things they do not. I thought Wall-E was okay, because it had a good environmental message and very creative vision, and no one actually got hurt. I thought "UP" was okay, because it showed kids things that they needed to see, which is just my personal opinion on the matter. Yes, they tell the wife she can't have a baby. Yes, they show an animal getting hurt. (So did the Lion King!) Yes they see a man in a funeral home. (ZOMG thats what people do when they die!) Yes they have a man sick dogs on people. It happens, kids. Don't let it happen to you.
But Spike Jonze put many things in a movie that kids do not need to be exposed to. The fact that 10- year- old Max is a well-adjusted child is good. But he has anger issues against his family do not need to be exposed so kids can relate to it. The kid bites his own mother. (Yes, I know it happens). You see someone rip someone else's arm off. You see a kid run away from home to escape his parents. Kids who already are ADHD, or have anger issues do not need the support. Basically the kid gets tired of being ignored (popular problem in America) because his mother actually has a life and cannot wait on him every five minutes. When he acts out to get attention, he bites his mom and, out of anguish and fear at what he had done, he runs away. He sails for days and days and finds an island with large, anthropomorphic monsters who have the emotional maturity of Max. Its like he's playing with his peers, whom he lies to in order for them to make him their king. YAY! He then proceeds to promise to take all their pain away, when he can't even handle his own!
What i really think is that all the "Wild Things" on the island are all different types of kids. There is the silent kid, the one that never gets heard, the one who talks too much, the escapist... This movie is a psychologist's dream, and a parent's nightmare.
I'll give it this much: the problems in this storyline were real; it had a very realistic feel to it. That's the problem, though.
But honestly Max's attitude was the worst throughout the entire movie; this is not a good role model for kids. And the worst part? He doesn't even get in trouble for it, or even says he's sorry. His childlike friends get hurt under his rule, and he doesn't even try to do anything about it. For all the angsty things Max does with these so-called "monsters" he may have said he was sorry TWICE.
The movie then ends with NOTHING resolved, his friend's family is divided, and there is no showing that anyone's lives have improved as a result of the adventure.
While other movies marketed for kids may have negative content, they do not set a negative example as much as this movie does.