"Where the Wild Things Are" -- 'being a family is hard'

[revdorothyl]

Just a quick note to say that I saw Where the Wild Things Are with a friend last night, and I can see why the critics are raving about it . . . though it was even more difficult to watch than I'd expected, simply because even the scenes on the island with the giant Jim Henson creatures were so REALISTIC (in terms of recognizable emotions and

Comments

not what you'd expect from the book, but ...

[revdorothyl]

It probably wouldn't upset them too much, at least (though it takes Sendak's story and adds a bunch of extra dimensions, extra layers of meaning . . . for us adults, anyway).

There was someone with a young child or two sitting behind us, and they didn't seem to be unduly scared or upset by the 'scary' parts -- perhaps because MAX isn't really portrayed as being afraid of the big furry creatures, most of the time, even when they're stomping around.

As a 'girl' I was appalled by all the rough-housing and rough play (snowball fights, wrestling, tackling, etc.) demonstrated by Max and by the Wild Things, but my friend (who has a son who just graduated from college and who grew up as the only girl with a bunch of boy cousins) kept murmuring 'that's exactly the way boys play!' in a half-laughing, half-'ick!' sort of way.

I suspect your boys would enjoy the island adventure scenes (the vast majority of the movie), though some of the larger themes might go over the younger one's head, at least.