Where the Wild Things Are
My wife and I took our children to see Where the Wild Things Are a few days ago. Our children loved it, a lot, but I think it would be safe to say that I loved it even more than they loved it! In fact, I would not be afraid to put Where the Wild Things Are in the second or third spot of my all-time-favorite movies list! Seriously! Where the Wild Things Are is a rich and wonderful story built upon a very simple and deep message about peace, anger, fear, comfort and family.
I have never been a big fan of movie merchandise. I have never been inspired by a theatrical release enough to go out and buy all the garb associated with it. This time, I was deeply inspired and I did just that! I went out and started collecting everything associated with this story.
First, I went out and bought the 1963 children’s picture book by Maurice Sendak for the very first time in my life. I should have owned this book as a child, but didn’t for whatever reasons. My kids have it now. They love the book as much as they loved the movie. Obviously, I needed to buy the book; it’s the inspiration for the movie. I’m honestly surprised at how well a book composed of only ten sentences translated to a full-length feature film. It translated superbly. At any rate, I bought the book. It’s a valuable part of our family’s library now, as it should be.
Next, I bought the soundtrack. The soundtrack for the movie is the best music I have heard in years. Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and The Kids get the credit for this masterpiece but the list of contributors is long (Members of YYYs (Brian Chase and Nick Zinner), Deerhunter (Bradford Cox), the Raconteurs/Dead Weather (Dean Fertita/Jack Lawrence), Liars (Aaron Hemphill ), the Bird and the Bee (Greg Kurstin), Gris Gris (Oscar Michel), and New Folk Implosion and Alaska (Imaad Wasif), and, believe it or not, a totally untrained children’s choir). When mixed and blended together this motley cast of artists, musicians, and untrained children produce some of the finest, simplest, wildest and deeply inspiring music that I have heard in quite some time. I have been streaming the soundtrack from this movie nonstop for several days. My favorite track: 5. Rumpus. It’s awesome.
Finally, I’m going to buy the character figurines. Yes! You read that correctly! A shelf in my home office is going to be the new home of those Wild Things and Max, if I have my way. I haven’t actually purchased any yet, but I plan on doing so very, very soon. Again, I have to say, that I’ve never been this taken by a movie, ever. I’ve never been so compelled by a film to go and out and purchase the merchandise associated with it. There is a first time for everything, right? Right!
I love everything about Where the Wild Things Are. It’s a brilliant story! Go get the book and read it for yourself and read it to your children! God see the movie too! It’s wonderful!
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Heh. I loved it too. It reminded me of both my church and my marriage. “Family”, said K.W., “Is hard.” True dat, Wild Thing.
Yeah, Mike. It really resonates on both levels, doesn’t it. :)
Hope you all are well, brother.
I used WTWTA in my classroom three times in the past weeks. We used it to practice visualizing, questioning, and making inferences. You would have loved it!
Jess – I love everything about this story. It’s really incredible.
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