Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Book vs. movie 2 of 3


This book is a fantasy story intended for ages 3 – 7 and evokes ones imagination. The illustrations are superb and help to visualize the story perfectly. It is a very easy read and a very likable book. The story flows as a young child’s imagination would; going from one thing straight to another. It is very easy to believe that Max was ready for an adventure, even if he had to make it up himself. The wild things are intended to be scary, but they really are not. They are basically a distortion of what a child would imagine, which is how a lot of people dream.

However, the movie is quit different. Max is a very lonely, defiant, and angry child. His anger comes out several times throughout the movie. In the movie Max runs away, but in the book he is sent to his room. In both, this is when he goes to the wild things island. In both the book and the movie Max becomes king. However in the book Max plays and has fun with the monsters, while in the movie Max tries to control the monsters. The monsters are not all the scary in the movie. They do show a lot of emotions. In the movie Max and the monsters build a fort. This is not part of the book. There is also a lot of sadness in the movie that is not in the book. This movie is rated PG which is not the ages the book is intended. This movie would not keep a young child’s attention and it was a little long and drawn out. However, the young adults seem to like it, basically because of all the action.