Film // Where the Wild Things Are

Directed by   Spike Jonze
Running time 104 minutes

'Where the Wild Things Are' is a film adaptation of the Children's book of the same name written by Maurice Sendak in 1963. The story follows the main character, Max, a lonely little boy with a very active imagination and parents who are divorced. After dressing in his wolf costume and wreaking havoc around the house when his mum's boyfriend comes round, he eventually throws a tantrum because his mother didn't come and see the fort he made in his bedroom, and bites her on the shoulder. She shouts at him and he runs away, scared by what has happened. Eventually getting to a pond and finds a small boat which he boards. The pond soon becomes an ocean and Max's imagination transports him to an island inhabited by mysterious creatures.

The film uses a very interesting and well balanced mixture of live action and animation, I also believe there were some animatronics involved in the production of the film as well as live performers in costumes, so there was a huge effort to really bring the mysterious creatures in 'Where the Wild Things Are' to life, and I love the dedication to making sure they were the best they could be in terms of giving the film the right feel.

The direction of the film feels very personal, we see the story from Max's point of view virtually

Storyboard, Where the Wild Things Are

the whole time. From the start of the film when he's playing with himself, to his bedroom, running away and his adventure in an imaginary land. To add to this there is also the use of steady cam to follow Max third person in some of the more fast paced scenes such as the scene he runs away. The development of Max as a character is also pivotal to the story as you need to understand his lonely nature, and the frustration he probably feels on a day to day basis when he has no one else to play with. This is reflected in scenes such as the opening sequence where he's playing by himself in the snow, and he's approached by a group of older children and tease him before he retreats back to his house. It's the moments like this that you share with him, that allow you to feel more connected to him as a character, apart from the fact he's a very relatable child, dressing up and making forts like a lot of people do as children.


One thing I really like about the film is the colour and tone of the film. The levels of light and colour give off the perfect vibe together with the story. There are scenes that contain really warm lighting but some however that were quite cold, and at the same time the scenes were quite saturated at points in the story where it was night time for example. The darker lighting throughout the entire film highlights the feeling of the main character, Max, almost like a dark cloud, depicting his loneliness

Lighting, Where the Wild Things Are

The special effects and animation used in the film was very smooth and seamless. Some of the most visually impressive scenes are the scenes based around landscape and environment, for example the scene where Max enters a pond via the boat he finds and the pond turns into an Ocean. Or perhaps, the scene where him and Carol are strolling through the dessert environment and they are surrounded by huge sand dunes. An equally impressively shot scene for environments is the forest scenes, where the ambient lighting and type of shot used feels very unforced. Apart from this, the CGI animation on the monsters faces, is very fluid and natural, really bringing them to life. 

The purpose of the film, 'Where the Wild Things Are' is entertainment aimed at children but in my opinion can be appreciated by people of all ages. The touching story that everyone can relate to, maybe especially adults. When I was 

Environment, Where the Wild Things Are

watching it I felt like I was being sent back to my childhood because of the kind of things Max was doing, building forts, dressing up and pretending to be a wolf for example. The creatures were envisioned very well by the special effects team that worked on the film, and bring the right level of child like fun and seriousness to the production.