Where The Wild Things Are

Angel has discovered a theatre in Pasadena that has $2 matinee and $3 regular movie tickets!!! I realize Pasadena is a 45 minute drive w/o traffic, but paying for gas I still end up saving moeny when I consider that hot dogs are $1 and hot chocolate is $2. Grant it, the hot dogs and hot chocolate are not amazing, but they fit in pretty well with the whole experience.

The Regency Theatre has movies that are leaving the box office, so we won't be seeing any new releases there, but it is a great place to catch up on old releases taht I was too poor to see when they debuted.

We went to see A Serious Man but technical difficulties with the projector left us with a refund and a free ticket to another movie. Since Where The Wild Things Are had only recently started, we decided to check it out instead of waiting another hour for another show to begin.

The movie was interesting. I suppose it has been awhile since I read the book, but the movie I saw seems very different from the book I remember. Both Angel and I were left wondering what the point of the movie was when it ended, and neither of us was really sure if we actually liked the film for that reason. The young boy who plays the main character, Max, did a great job. He is a young actor who clearly has the potential to do greater things in the future. The character Max, as well as the "wild things" were all rather annoying in there own way. From Carol who has some serious rage issues, to Judith who has some intense insecurity issues, the "wild things" in genenral seem to portraying young children who have some kind of parental issues, mostly it seems they lack a parental role model. Then there is Max who runs away to the wild things after he gets in an altercation with his mother in the kitchen. He jumps on the counter pretending to be a monster and eventually bites his mother when she grows frustrated with him not obeying her commands to get down.

I think the characters are all rather annoying.

The music, however, I really enjoyed. And, despite the annoyance of the characters, the movie is beautifully and artfully done. It is visually very enjoyable, although it does have a slightly dark feel to it. It definitely is not the family movie I expected based on the popularity of the book. I know Maurice Sendak is kind of a controversial children's writer, but I always really enjoyed his Nutshell Library collection. I was never really attached to Where The Wild Things Are, so maybe that influences my opinion. Maybe if I was more connected to the book, I'd understand the movie better.