shifteh

And it was a great movie!  I wasnt sure what to expect, especially since that morning, I heard a luke-warm review of it on NPR.  The book which has only 10 sentences is one of my favorite children books. It is imaginative and creative and it gets better as you read it again and again and again.  I really wanted to see how you turn a book that has only 10 sentences into an 1 1/2 long movie.  And, boy was i blown away or what! 

To begin with, one has to realize that the movie is sort of an iteration of the book; it does not follow the book exactly; but it gives you the same feeling, yet at a different level.  This is the director's version which only shows the ways that he was influenced by the book, i think.  The movie opens up with giving you a glimps of Max's adventurist personality and it quickly moves you to the depth of his lonliness.  Then, you walk with him into his wildest  imagination in which ofcourse there are creatures (the wild-things) who are as lonely as Max.  I felt the pain of Carol (one of the wild-things) as he raged and destroyed the jungle, for he was left by KW (another one of the wild-things) who had found new friends.  Along with other wild-things; I too hung to Max and wanted him to be the king of all wild-things and to make it better for everyone.  And then when KW came back; I prayed for Max to make everything good between KW and Carol.  And i cried when just like Max, I realized sometimes despite much love, people (and wild-things too) grew apart and no one can do anything about that.  Carol's and Max's loneliness drew them together and my heart ached when Carol found out that Max was just a little boy who has never been a king and i cried for Max as he decided to leave the Wild things and go back home.  As he sailed home, I wondered if he'd reach his comfort and i sighed with relief when he finally got home and watched his mother watching him eating his warm soup.  I knew then that everything was going to be ok and that Max will always have his mom to watch after him.  I left the movie theater thinking how lucky Max is; to be able to go off and then to come back safely to a 2warm kitchen where a hearty soup is awaiting him.  To me, this was an ultimate happy ending.