MovieChat Forums > Where the Wild Things Are (2009) Discussion > I don't get all the 'not meant for kids'...

I don't get all the 'not meant for kids' talk.

posted 9 years ago by mkhpsyco
4 replies | jump to latest

I have seen this movie multiple times. I would agree that this movie has a lot of depth that adults can get out of it, but it's also got a lot for kids too. I watched this movie with my girlfriend and her 4 year old. There were parts that were scary for the kid, there were parts were funny, and parts that were sad. But none of them inappropriate for children.

At the end of the movie it had both my girlfriend her daughter in tears. It's been almost a year since we watched it, and the kid has brought up the movie multiple times, talking about the characters, wanting to read the book, and also wanting to watch the movie.

I think this movie resonates with children more than most people give it for. On top of that, if you love the imagination of your kid, or just child like in general, this movie hits so many spots.

Super underrated film in my opinion.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] imajestr 9 years ago

The mainstream reaction to the film only illustrates the same issues Maurice Sendak faced when publishing his work: People think children can only understand watered down brightly colored moronic happy stories. They want to shelter kids, pretend that they should never feel sad or scared. It's symptomatic of adults trying to censor what kids experience. But, to me, this film captures the raw feelings of childhood pretty much perfectly. What that says is that adults don't think kids can handle movies that accurately represent a child's experience. They think kids can only handle movies that are better than the real world.

It is freaking stupid. I watched this again recently and realize it is 100% a kids movie, but the studio was too scared to market it as such, fearing backlash that it's not "family friendly" enough. Dumb. I would have loved this if I saw it when I was a kid.

[–] CaraMSchec 7 years ago

Whether something is appropriate for kids and whether kids will understand it are 2 very different things.

My issue with this movie is that it's not appropriate for the age of children he book is meant for (which has a lot to do with how much they added to the original story to make it a movie). So while I'd read the book to a toddler, I would not show a toddler the movie because I believe they don't need to be subjected to the scary parts of it at that age. Sure they'd understand it but there's no reason to show children things that could lead to nightmares at that age.

Now, as Max in the movie looks to be closer to 8-10 years old (though still acts like a toddler), I'd show this movie to older children, those around the age of 10. So it's all what you mean by "kids" really.

[–] aidankost 7 years ago

The average 10-year-old would never go for this movie. They'd want to watch that comic book trash.