Where the Wild Things Are Book by Maurice Sendak (1963) Film directed by Spike Jonze (2009)

Max is acting up.

He is maybe 7 or 8, so he is naturally precocious and mischievous. In Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, Max’s disobedience leads him to bed without dinner. Alone in his room, Max, always in wolf costume, imagines his bedroom becoming entangled with vines and trees and jungle life. An ocean appears with a sailboat waiting just for Max to travel to wild and exotic places. When he lands on an island, he meets wild things just like him. Wild things that want to play and fight roar.

In Spike Jonze’s film adaptation, Max’s acting up stems from the chaotic events in his home life. His parents have divorced, his mother is preoccupied with her work and a new boyfriend, his sister has outgrown his antics. These changes are an abrupt interruption of childhood innocence; essentially, Max feels he has lost his family. He is easily hurt and quick to feel abandoned. Throughout the film, Max continuously makes forts, an igloo, a makeshift fort of blankets, and ultimately a true fort in the wilderness. He builds these new homes where he hopes to find safety and solace.

One night, Max is out of control. He yells and screams at his mother and then he runs away, through the woods, where he finds a sailboat. He hops into the boat and sails off looking for adventure and escape.

When Max lands on an island, he immediately meets its wild inhabitants. They are wild things just like him. They are grumpy and difficult and noisy and playful. The wild things are looking for a new king and Max is a gleeful candidate. As king of the wild things, he promises to take care of them and make sure that they are always happy. Max and the wild things live it up for a while. They play, they fight, they build a huge fort with nests and tunnels, a place for all of them to live comfortably together forever.

Max soon learns of uneasiness among some of the wild things. His best friend, Carol (voiced beautifully by James Gandolfini), does not like change and is quick to feel abandoned. Wild thing Judith is jealous that Max has a favorite wild thing (and it is not her). When Carol discovers that Max is not really a king and cannot take care of him as he had promised, Carol turns on him.

Jonze fleshes out Sendak’s story with broad strokes of melancholy. The joy of being 7 years old is brought to life by Max and his wild things. The inevitable discoveries that Max makes about love and understanding are bittersweet and pure. The wild things themselves are a gift; it is as if they just stepped right out of the pages of Sendak’s book. They are walking, talking creatures (no digital playmates here) with names like Carol, Ira, Judith and KW. The voice characterizations are pitch perfect thanks to Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Chris Cooper.

Screenwriters Jonze and Dave Eggers retain the spirit and look of Maurice Sendak’s classic book while adding a contemporary resonance to the screen version. The film is a worthy companion piece.

Kimberly Nichols can be reached at: kmn007@gmail.com.