Where the Wild Things Are (three stars total) To all the parents who said this movie was too scary for their kids, what are you teaching them?!? In my experience, kids aren't naturally afraid of big animals, great heights or being alone in the dark. They have to learn fear from getting bit, falling hard or being told that there's a boogeyman under the bed. When I heard there were kids who started crying in Where the Wild Things Are, my first reaction was to wonder what their adult authority figures had said on the way to the screening. ("Hey kids, we're going to watch to watch a monster movie. You know what a monster is, right? It's a scary thing that eats you. And they're really real. And there's one that lives under your bed. And I'm going to tell it to eat you if you don't stop crying right now.") The only crying kid I saw when I went to the movie was the one on the big screen. For his age, he did a pretty believable job of it too. He whined, sniffled, screamed, roared and even laughed sadistically. He was hands down scarier than any giant Muppets. But I still don't think kids would be scared by another kid. If anything, they would be bored by the movie. If you were wondering how they were going to stretch a 37-page illustrated fantasty book into a feature-length, live-action movie, that's exactly what they did - they stretched it. And padded it. And turned it into adult therapy for loneliness and anger management. And kids don't care how great the technical aspects look and sound when the lines between good and bad get blurred. That kind of storytelling is for adults. There were only adults at the Saturday matinee I attended and most of them looked older than me. They were probably fans of the book and I think the movie stayed true to the book. If you were never a fan of the book, you probably won't be able to ever enjoy the best part of the movie, which is seeing the different illustrated characters brought to life. My favorite has always the one with the human feet (on the cover of the book I have). I was so pleased that he wasn't demystified by being linked with some actor's voice. He only has one line, and they save it for the end. It's not a particularly happy ending, nor is it sad, so I don't know why anyone would cry for either reason. Mostly I just don't understand why anyone would cry out of fear. It's not a scary movie, but I still wouldn't call it a kids' movie either.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
"Adult" Movie Versus "Children's" Movie
Drag Me to Hell (two stars total) Which is which? If you go by the "PG-13" rating, Drag Me To Hell (just released on DVD) would be the "adult" movie and the plain PG-rated Where the Wild Things Are (just released in theaters) would be the "children's" movie. If you go by the maturity level of each, it's the other way around. The protagonists in both movies feel unfairly punished for selfish indiscretions but it's ironic that the audience is expected to feel sympathy for the adult who's unprepared for the real world and not the child. The girl in Drag Me To Hell has a big house in the big city, a boyfriend who's willing to sacrifice thousands of dollars to support her in something he doesn't agree with (even when his family doesn't approve of her) and apparently she can get clothing boutiques to open early just for her. Do I think she deserves a break? I think she's already had several breaks. I couldn't sympathize with the her character nor with Justin Long's character for standing by her and I normally like Justin Long. "You used to be a fat girl, right?" That's my favorite line from the movie and I'm pretty sure it had the opposite effect on me from what was intended. I thought it was awesome for someone say that to a total stranger and it hardly made me feel more sorry for the girl. I heard the movie had audiences both scared and laughing, but after I didn't laugh at all in the first fifteen minutes, the nervous parking garage scene started and I wondered if people had lied about the comedy side. Then the gypsy witch got stapled in the head and I started laughing. I never expected to see that or the projectile nosebleed or swallowing formaldehyde or a gravedigging scene and I laughed through them all. I never considered the possibility that the comedy and the horror would only work when together and that any scene without either would be a waste.
Where the Wild Things Are (three stars total) To all the parents who said this movie was too scary for their kids, what are you teaching them?!? In my experience, kids aren't naturally afraid of big animals, great heights or being alone in the dark. They have to learn fear from getting bit, falling hard or being told that there's a boogeyman under the bed. When I heard there were kids who started crying in Where the Wild Things Are, my first reaction was to wonder what their adult authority figures had said on the way to the screening. ("Hey kids, we're going to watch to watch a monster movie. You know what a monster is, right? It's a scary thing that eats you. And they're really real. And there's one that lives under your bed. And I'm going to tell it to eat you if you don't stop crying right now.") The only crying kid I saw when I went to the movie was the one on the big screen. For his age, he did a pretty believable job of it too. He whined, sniffled, screamed, roared and even laughed sadistically. He was hands down scarier than any giant Muppets. But I still don't think kids would be scared by another kid. If anything, they would be bored by the movie. If you were wondering how they were going to stretch a 37-page illustrated fantasty book into a feature-length, live-action movie, that's exactly what they did - they stretched it. And padded it. And turned it into adult therapy for loneliness and anger management. And kids don't care how great the technical aspects look and sound when the lines between good and bad get blurred. That kind of storytelling is for adults. There were only adults at the Saturday matinee I attended and most of them looked older than me. They were probably fans of the book and I think the movie stayed true to the book. If you were never a fan of the book, you probably won't be able to ever enjoy the best part of the movie, which is seeing the different illustrated characters brought to life. My favorite has always the one with the human feet (on the cover of the book I have). I was so pleased that he wasn't demystified by being linked with some actor's voice. He only has one line, and they save it for the end. It's not a particularly happy ending, nor is it sad, so I don't know why anyone would cry for either reason. Mostly I just don't understand why anyone would cry out of fear. It's not a scary movie, but I still wouldn't call it a kids' movie either.
Where the Wild Things Are (three stars total) To all the parents who said this movie was too scary for their kids, what are you teaching them?!? In my experience, kids aren't naturally afraid of big animals, great heights or being alone in the dark. They have to learn fear from getting bit, falling hard or being told that there's a boogeyman under the bed. When I heard there were kids who started crying in Where the Wild Things Are, my first reaction was to wonder what their adult authority figures had said on the way to the screening. ("Hey kids, we're going to watch to watch a monster movie. You know what a monster is, right? It's a scary thing that eats you. And they're really real. And there's one that lives under your bed. And I'm going to tell it to eat you if you don't stop crying right now.") The only crying kid I saw when I went to the movie was the one on the big screen. For his age, he did a pretty believable job of it too. He whined, sniffled, screamed, roared and even laughed sadistically. He was hands down scarier than any giant Muppets. But I still don't think kids would be scared by another kid. If anything, they would be bored by the movie. If you were wondering how they were going to stretch a 37-page illustrated fantasty book into a feature-length, live-action movie, that's exactly what they did - they stretched it. And padded it. And turned it into adult therapy for loneliness and anger management. And kids don't care how great the technical aspects look and sound when the lines between good and bad get blurred. That kind of storytelling is for adults. There were only adults at the Saturday matinee I attended and most of them looked older than me. They were probably fans of the book and I think the movie stayed true to the book. If you were never a fan of the book, you probably won't be able to ever enjoy the best part of the movie, which is seeing the different illustrated characters brought to life. My favorite has always the one with the human feet (on the cover of the book I have). I was so pleased that he wasn't demystified by being linked with some actor's voice. He only has one line, and they save it for the end. It's not a particularly happy ending, nor is it sad, so I don't know why anyone would cry for either reason. Mostly I just don't understand why anyone would cry out of fear. It's not a scary movie, but I still wouldn't call it a kids' movie either.
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