Where the Wild Things Are... NOT!
The previous 4 weekends we did something amazing, yet I have gotten so behind in writing about them. (must do soon!) So it is kind of sad that I am taking the time to write about this past Saturday that was pretty horrible. That is not so Pink of me.This past weekend was raining, depressing and cold. Our big event was getting dressed and going to Panera for lunch. Then on the way home we drove by the movie theater to see if anything was playing and saw what looked like a kids movie "Where the Wild Things Are".
We bought tickets knowing nothing about the movie.
This could hands down be the worst movie I have seen in a theater in five years or forever. It was seriously like what I imagine the Blair Witch Project to be like only filmed in the daylight. I get so dizzy when the audience has to run with a camera.
It seems like great material for therapists wanting to help patients find their inner self. It was just a bunch of screaming and horrible model behavior for kids. In fact our three girls all started fighting on the way home and screaming just like all the characters in the movie. Interesting.
Before we left the theater, Jeff looked at the girls and said...
- don't ever talk to your mother like that little boy
- and if you do, you better apologize. ( I was so mad that the boy did not apologize at the end)
- don't ever treat your siblings like that sister did
- don't ever run away
- forget everything we just watched for the past 100 minutes
below review from The Seattle Times::
Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are" is about how yelling makes a small person feel big, how a wolf costume makes a skinny kid feel scary, and how a 9-year-old can long for independence and yet still badly want his mom. It's a creative, thoughtful and at times downright odd adaptation of Maurice Sendak's brief, beloved children's book — a story of childhood, as Jonze has repeatedly said, that's not necessarily for children. Some children, I think, will love this film, some will find it frightening, and some will be bored. Adults, likely, will experience it the same way.
I am so interested to hear what anyone else thought of this movie.
"Let the Wild Rumpus Start"
"Let the Wild Rumpus Start"
30 comments:
Kristi-
I've heard (OK, on FB) the same thing.
My kids are real scaredy cats and so it wouldn't be on our list anyway...but I hardly think you are alone in your review of this movie.
it was not even that scary just SO disturbing!
That makes me sad. He doesn't apologie to his mom at the end of the book either, what do you think bothered you more about you movie. I'm assuming he had a chance in the movie, where he doesn't in the book. Same question sbout running
away? I am with you that I abhor movie where the kids are bratty and
disrespectful.
tasha ::
i think it was because he had longer to be rude to him mom in the movie in which she much more deserved an apology. oh ya he had a chance to apologize to his hard working single mom who waited up for him and then waited there for him while he gobbled up the dinner and dessert none the less, while she fell asleep watching him at the table.
boy do i have issues with this move or what...
Thanks for the review...we will not be seeing it:)
I really am tired of movies being marketed toward kids and then really not being a kid movie. Any kind of movie that promotes disrespect, and rudeness is NOT a kid movie!
I am just bugged bc my kids are being Where the Wild Things Are characters for Halloween (my son is named Max so I have to) and I don't want the movie to ruin their costumes. It sounds lame and I am definitely not seeing it.
I felt EXACTLY the same way about this movie - I left so angry that I had wasted my time and we had the same discussion with our kids afterward! I can say without a doubt the worst movie I've seen....ever!
I agree.
We went opening night - thought it was a huge treat. Three out of my 4 didn't like it - but they all wanted to have those costumes for Halloween..
I thought it was too long and dark. I thought that it was down right stupid.
I loved Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! Seriously - a fun and cute movie with a moral and not about anything that you would need therapy before or after for!!!
We took our kids yesterday and it was the biggest waste of $30 EVER!! I totally agree!!
I have seen the movie twice- I really enjoyed it. I do not think it is a kids movie- at all. It was too long and heavy and dark in places and I think kids would get bored. That disappointed me. But I really liked how it got me thinking. I loved the music and overall cinematography. The costuming!!! I cried a couple times...the movie moved me- what can I say?
I completely agree with you!!! I thought the movie was appalling...just horrible & pointless. I kept waiting for a moral point or theme and it was just chaos. It was NOT a kid's movie; it was nothing like the book.
My kids acted up after seeing this movie too!
The parenting skills portrayed in the movie were as dreadful as the children's behavior.
It is so funny that you dedicated a whole post to this, because I went to lunch with my Mom & sister and spent at least 15 minutes describing how awful this movie is to them. This movie makes you talk about it...but not for the right reasons!
My sister texted me the other night and said DO NOT GO SEE THIS! She told me if anyone tells me it is good to de-friend them. :) Funny-all I have heard are good reviews until yours! I really never had a desire to go see it. Something freaky about it! Thank you for the review!
My kids opinions went something like this:
daughter #1: that was sad and depressing
daughter #2: it was sad
Son: he's going to die!!
We thought it was ok, but not like the book...and I agree, what makes them think that that kind of bratty behavior is acceptable in anyone? Apologies would have been nice.
hannah. very true the soundtrack was amazing.
I tried so hard to go leave the movie theatre with a good attitude mostly because I knew we just wasted a bunch of moo-la. My husband kept giving me the "I cant believe you made us come to see this" look!! The book in itself had no meaning but I really thought the movie would be SO good. You know it is always the movies with good ratings that win all kinds of awards (as I am sure this one will for costume) that are really lame. I too am tired of movies coming out and pushed toward kids and family- Marley and Me was another theatre PG moment when we almost had to walk out due to the language and love scenes.
Where the Wild Things Are: violent, disrespectful, and disturbing- we get enough of that in just the daily news- which I also choose not to watch for the very same reason. I like to live in a love peace and harmony bubble :) Must see Movie: UP
That movie was GREAT!!!! Family friendly and makes you love your family that much more.
If it was so bad, why didn't you leave? And then get your money back?
I am so glad to know this really isn't a kid's movie.
I've had my doubts about this movie, so glad to know they were true. Sorry y'all had to sit through that!
I like the book, but the movie previews disturb even me.
We took my son Max to see it for his birthday and thought he would think it was so neat that they had the same name. Luckily he fell asleep in the first 10 minutes. I cried in the beginning, not because I was touched, but because it just made me feel so icky. I just kept thinking that that boy needed someone who cared about him and how selfish adults can be. It just made me want to hold my kids tight. And the one monster, Judith really did freak me out. I thought she was going to eat him at any moment. I hated it. It felt like an R rated movie for kids. It had r rated swearing for kids, and it made you feel icky like an r rated movie. Probably how grown ups felt when they left the blair witch project.
So my kids HATED IT. I didn't take them, because I have no time for that sort of frivolous activity :}, but for me and my family that book was a seriously big deal. Like Goodnight Moon and Winnie the Pooh. It was one of the first books that I bought Marcus and I definitely didn't think that Max was a spoiled disrespectful brat, I just thought that on that one night he needed at time out. I am sad that the movie was so lame and weird. I like the costumes though, that's some good illustrating. It just goes to show that not every book makes a good movie. Madison was telling me about a part where one of the Wild Things has to swallow Maxx. What the What?!?
I saw a review on CNN that called it two hours of muppet therapy.
Thank you SO much for sharing! I'll be sure to steer my kids clear from this movie.
They can watch enough of those bad things on limited amount of t.v. they are allowed to watch. :(
I'm SO happy to have read this before I went to the show!!! Thanks for saving me the money!!!
We also took our girls, 3 nieces, and 2 nephews to see this last Saturday. I too was so disturbed!! The first 20 minutes I mentioned to Greg several times that maybe we should leave and go home to watch something worthwhile, like college football. He looked up the reviews on his phone and they seemed ok so we sat through the 134 minutes of screaming! Absolutely the WORST movie I've EVER seen! I wish I never would have gone.
I'll preface this with saying that I haven't seen the movie.
However, maybe I missed something, but I never felt like this movie was really marketed towards kids. I think everyone assumed it was, because it is a book written for children, but even the book to some degree deals with fairly adult themes and isn't a great example to kids.
Maybe its better in book form or isn't as disturbing?
I'm more interested in seeing it, because I usually like Spike Jonze's movies and for the cinematography and the fact that instead of digitally animating the monsters he had real actors in costume. I never intended to take my kids.
First of all I'm a Kindergarten teacher and have a deep love for Where the Wild Things Are as do my students.
Both myself and many other teachers were saddened to find out it was being made into a movie. Also there's not that much of a plot.
I went yesterday with one of my friends and was shocked! The only book like characterstics are the costumes. We (my friend and I) gasped as Carol ripped off one of their arms. It was sooo violent.
No thank you-it cheapened Mr. Sendak's work and confirms the original beliefs that the book itself was violent which is sad.
NOT A KID MOVIE!!!!
So I keep thinking about this and wanted to come back to comment- again :)
The more I think about it the more I am against the attitude that this movie "should" have been made for children. The book was first released in 1963. Most of us grew up with this book as a childhood classic. The movie is not made for todays children, its made for the children who GREW UP with this story, who are now the adults. To me this movie is meant to be the adult expression of the childrens book NOT for the children who are still young enough to be reading it at bed time.
Hopefully that makes sense...and of course is just my two cents :)
my hubbies words (after I said, well, that was a bit too violent) "that was the most boring movie I have ever seen"
What a disappointment! Marc and I and all of our kids have loved the book. My first thought when seeing that it was a movie was that I couldn't figure out how that would work. It sounds like it was worse than I ever imagined.
I get upset when movies that are not appropriate for kids are marketed to look like kids' movies. Yuck.
Interesting...I just commented on this same movie at another friend's blog. Here's my verdict:
I heard a movie review from a talk radio person i really admire (Michael Medved) and could tell from his commentary that the movie is CRAP.
Seriously--talk about an Oedipus Complex! Since when did little Max from THE BOOK have a psychotic Oedipal issues???? Gak.
And the monsters look scary.
I'll stick with the cartoon which, by the way, is made by Scholastic--i think.
From what I heard the reviewer tell about the movie, it sounded disturbed and dark.
No. Thanks.
I'll just go watch "The Proposal" for the 134th time. That movie is happy and optimistic.
As for the kids, we're stickin' with "Surf's Up."
Loves to you!
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