I have been wanting to see Where the Wild Things Are for awhile now. I didn't see it in theaters. I've actually never even read the book. I was trying to figure out how make it fit into my "Halloween movies" theme, hoping that the fact that the wild things looked like monsters would be enough to justify it.
So, it's not a horror movie with disemboweling crazies ripping people apart or a manic killer massacring people on a grand scale. It's not even about Halloween. But I think it fits anyway, because it's about wrestling with your inner demons. Max is a kid with a lot of anger issues and this adventure that he goes on in the movie shows him how distructive that kind of behavoir can be to the ones you love.
Besides, aren't inner demons just as scary as any of the ones dreamt up by Stephen King or Dean Koontz or Wes Craven? I just took a moment to speak to my inner demons and they informed me that I should not fear them, that they are my friends. I think that just reinforces my theory.
I enjoyed Where the Wild Things Are. It's not a splashy movie with explosions, nudity or car chases, but it's got a great message and cast and it was fun to watch.
I did a little research about Maurice Sendak, the author of the book and was excited to discover that he wrote and illustrated one of my favorite books from childhood: In the Night Kitchen. That is apparently one of the top banned books of all time because the kid in that is nude (with frontal shots) for much of the book.
As I read more about Sendak, I also learned that he came out of the closet in a 2008 article. Maybe that's why I was so into the book In the Night Kitchen when I was a kid. I keep hearing Maurice Sendak's name a lot during the holidays, too, because he disigned the costumes and sets for the local Pacific Northwest Ballet's annual Nutcracker Suite production. I still have never seen that either...maybe this year I'll check it out.
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