Children are the Wild Things

Where the Wild Things Are is the closest one will get to being inside of a child without having to fear that the parents will press charges against you. Spike Jonze creates a phenomenal story about the inner workings of a child's mind. In changing the 338 word children’s book into a feature length film, Jonze creates a movie welcome to people of all ages.

Max is a 9-year-old boy whose imaginative life is filled with rough housing and harmless violence. When he retreats to his imagination, he finds a group of monsters who include Tony Soprano, the Last King of Scotland, and that guy that Daniel Day-Lewis killed. The monsters request that he becomes their king, and Max gladly accepts their offer. But it isn’t long until real problems occur – the loss of friendship, love affairs, rat infestations – causing Max to realize that he is ill-equipped for such a position. He leaves at the height of the troubles and once again finds solace in the real world.

Where the Wild Things Are is a recreation of a child's mentality. Just like other children, Max has a tendency to run from his problems, even if he create them in his imagination. Spike Jonze does a great job at demonstrating this, showing us that, just like children, Max is a character with a short attention span who is focused until the fun stops being so fun.

So if you have a lazy kid that's a dick then leaves the scene of the crime, see Where the Wild Things Are. And maybe afterwards, you won’t hit him so hard when he fucks up.