By: Maurice Sendak
Harper Collins Publishers
Copyright 1963
Book to Movie Comparison
Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are, written by Maurice Sendak, and published in 1963
by Harper Collins Publishers was made into a movie in 2009. It was a movie made
extremely similar to the book and directed by Spike Jones. In fact, the
costumes, the “wild things”, and the settings in the movie are visually
identical to the book. For example, the scenes where the “wild things” are
creating “rumpus” looks exactly like they do in the book. Jones even made sure
to have “Max” carved on the boat that Max uses to sail to and from the place
where the “wild things” are. Jones made the character use exact quotes from the
book and it flowed very naturally with the rest of the dialogue. At the end of
the movie, Max decides to go home for the same reason he leaves the place at
which the “wild things” are. He decides to go home because he is homesick.
Even
though the movie was so similar to the book, there were differences as well.
Most of these differences did not have to do with the storyline, but were
additions to the story. This provided length for making the movie. Right at the
beginning of the movie, Max’s sister and her friends, who are not in the book,
avoid and tease Max. This upsets him so much that it begins to build up and
eventually cause Max to run away from home. In the book, Max doesn’t literally
run away from home. Max just goes to his room and it turns into the forest.
Unlike the book, in the movie, Max builds a strong relationship with Carol, one
of the “wild things”. In fact he helps the wild things build a fort. The reason
he left where the wild things live, in the movie, is because he realized when
the “wild things” were arguing, that he missed arguing and feeling upset with
his own family. In the book it just says he left and that he knew he wanted to
go home because he smelt food reminding him of home.
When it comes
to the casting selections, I was very impressed. Max Records, who played the
main character, Max, is very talented. He exuded confidence, innocence, fright,
and a wild side. These are all characteristics I imagined Max having in the
book. I was very impressed with the casting of the “wild things”. The part of
the movie where Max is “where the wild things are” is mostly computer animated
and use of puppeteering. I think that it would be challenging to naturally act
out the role of an animated, or puppet, character through voiceovers. These
actors did a great job making the characters’ personalities less unrealistic
and more natural. The animation
and use of puppeteers was very well done, by making the scenes and “wild
things” seem realistic. It was only used while Max was “where the wild things
are”. If I were to do things differently, I would have taken another approach
and made it very obvious that “where the wild things are” and the actual “wild
things” were animated. I would take a similar approach to the movie James and the Giant Peach, so that when
Max went into his imagination it was very obvious that it was not the real
world.
Personally, I
prefer to watch the movie Where the Wild
Things Are to reading the book. The movie was easier to follow in terms of
understanding what is going on with Max and why he is being a “wild thing”.
While I was reading the book I had a difficult time trying to understand why
Max acted wild and how is room grew into a forest. In the movie it is simpler
to understand because it begins by showing how he felt like the world and his
family was being unkind to him. This made more sense to understanding why Max
was wild. The movie seemed to explain that it was his way of expressing
himself. Max running away from home, in the movie, made more sense to me than
his room turning into a forest, like in the book. It felt more realistic and
less like a fantasy. I have a difficult time understanding fantasy books, so
the more realistic adaptation to the movie was more enjoyable to me.
I gave this
movie thumbs up because I really appreciated that the director, Spike Jones, did
nothing noticeable to change the story line. It seemed very direct to the book.
The only reason that it was long enough to be made as a movie is because the
director expanded the part of the book where Max and the “wild things” started
a “wild rumpus”. The entire movie I was very impressed that Jones had the
characters look and say everything identical to the book. My prediction as to
why Jones decided to make the Where the
Wild Things Are a movie, is because of its popularity since it was
published in 1963. I think that Jones realizes how important technology and
movies are to this generation of children and that making a movie from a book
would be a great way to keep the story alive for generations to come. Where the Wild Things Are is the perfect
book to do that with, especially since it is fun for children to be able to
relate with having a wild side.
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