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Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are

Adventure · Drama · Family · 2009

Max imagines running away from his mom and sailing to a far-off land where large talking beasts—Ira, Carol, Douglas, the Bull, Judith and Alexander—crown him as their king, play rumpus, build forts and discover secret hideaways.

Movie details

Where the Wild Things Are

“There's one in all of us.”

2009 Adventure · Drama · Family 1h 41m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

Max imagines running away from his mom and sailing to a far-off land where large talking beasts—Ira, Carol, Douglas, the Bull, Judith and Alexander—crown him as their king, play rumpus, build forts and discover secret hideaways.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Where the Wild Things Are?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Spike Jonze

Written by

Dave Eggers · Spike Jonze

Max Records

Max Records

Max

Catherine Keener

Catherine Keener

Mom

James Gandolfini

James Gandolfini

Carol (voice)

Lauren Ambrose

Lauren Ambrose

KW (voice)

Catherine O'Hara

Catherine O'Hara

Judith (voice)

Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker

Ira (voice)

Chris Cooper

Chris Cooper

Douglas (voice)

Court is in session

Put Where the Wild Things Are on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.