Where the Wild Things Are: An Exercise in Nostalgia

True: Where the Wild Things Are is an emotionally charged movie. Whether or not it counts as a PG-rated children’s movie or not is arbitrary because the real audience is actually the grown-up. I can’t remember the book. However, I do remember the connection and the sense of belonging that I felt when I read it so long ago. Maurice Sendak’s story inspired Spike Jonze’s movie so I wouldn’t really call it an adaptation. Like a lot of my friends, I grew up reading Sendak’s books. It is marvelous that Sendak believed and understood that children are knowledgeable and aware of their surroundings more than grown-ups think they are. Jonze definitely acknowledges this sentiment in the movie. Besides the amazing recreation of the wild things, the whimsically down-to-earth sets, and the quiet acting, the movie was an unforgettably nostalgic moment in an hour and thirty-four minutes. As the Small Faces say, “It’s all too beautiful.”