DT: Where The Wild Things Are ~ 2009

Mar 29, 201345 min read

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Duckyworth

Published: Mar 29, 2013

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Now for the review.

Hello my friends, and welcome to the next Duckyworth's Thoughts review!

Today's film is an.... interesting film, and definitely one of the strangest I've seen. I also feel that it's another example of a film I feel is sadly overlooked by many just because of outer appearances.

However, hopefully, after reading this review, you may want to check it out yourselves.

So, without further ado... Let's dive into the realm....
Where The Wild Things Are!

DT 60 - Where The Wild Things Are by Duckyworth

Based on the bestselling book by Maurice Sendak, this film is one that got a lot of mixed reactions when it was released in cinemas. Many people didn't know what to make of it, it only made about $100,086,793 at the box office from a $100,000,000 budget, and some just boycott it because they think it looks 'dumb'.

Come on, you can't always judge a book by its cover, or a film by its trailer... For example, I thought FernGully was going to be bad when I heard about it, but when I saw it, it was great!

And for Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole, I thought it was going to be good, but when I saw it.... it was less than breathtaking.

But still, this is another film that I'm glad I saw, and I won't let the negative criticism of others get in the way.

This review may be a little bit shorter than my recent reviews, as I'm not sure if I'll have as much to say about it as some other films I've reviewed, but I'll try my best to cover all the main points.

The story revolves around a young boy named Max, played by Max Records, is a boy with a WILD imagination... Try thinking about Bastian from The Neverending Story, and you'll see just how creative this boy is.

He also wears a pretty cool wolf costume throughout the film... I wonder if he's going to become a furry when he grows up.

Anyway, the first scene in the film is.... probably one of the reasons why people turned away from this film so suddenly, I must admit...

We see Max in his wolf costume, and he starts chasing after and.... well, ATTACKING his dog....

Quite a way to start off a film.... Any boy that reminds me of the horrible crimes of Pippi Longstocking is a... well, BAD character to be a main hero.... But I'm sure many of us who had dogs around that age also played with our pets a little TOO harshly at times.... Well, I didn't with my gerbils I had when I was 8..... They're too small to be pushed around, after all....

And I'm sure Nassor from Frankenweenie didn't throw Colossus the Hamster around when he was younger, or if he did.... Maybe that explains the bandages on little Colossus....

Anyway, this boy is shown making an igloo outside (has he been taking lessons from Pingu

? Well, it seems Max is slightly better at this, because Pingu isn't the world's BEST igloo builder... Especially when you see how he just throws the blocks on top of each other in the episode 'Building Igloos'....

) and I see why he's as loud as he is towards his dog.....
It's because every other human being he comes across is pretty CRUEL.

His older sister Claire does nothing when her friends crush Max's snow fort (with him inside) during a snowball fight. That scene is, I have to admit, INCREDIBLY difficult to watch.... When we see Max cry.....

It reminds me of the scene where we see Fievel start to cry in An American Tail....

And above all of this, what kind of sister would just walk away, just letting her brother cry in pain?!

Add her to the list of horrible female characters (joining Kayley, Bella Swan and Pippi Longstocking....

) I mean, obviously all brothers and sisters have had sibling rivalry once in their lives (me and my elder sister have had quite a few arguments in the past, and we may have many more in the future

) but, again, all siblings have some kind of understanding between them, and they'll always show signs that they do love each other. It's like the children mice in The Secret of NIMH, true, Martin misbehaved a lot in a few scenes, but he still showed he had true affection towards his ailed brother Timmy.

And in God of War, even though Kratos, the always tough brooding Kratos

, believed his brother Deimos was incredibly weak when they were children, when his brother was dying, Kratos still came to his aid and helped him out as well as he could.

In THIS, all we see about Max and Claire is a scene where Claire's friends bully Max, and Claire does nothing about it...... A bit of an uncomfortable lasting image, don't you think?

But still, I do believe one of the purposes of this scene may be to show how difficult Max's life is with real people, and how much more comfortable he is in his imaginary world.

Out of frustration, Max messes up her bedroom and destroys a frame that he had made for her. Again, many people may find this boy a little bit destructive like Pippi Longstocking, but you know what? In this case... THE SISTER DESERVED IT.

No, really, if she doesn't help her brother out when her bullying friends hurt him physically and mentally, she deserves to have her room wrecked for it... Maybe not as much as Max does, but still.... And here, I began to think to myself.... Is Max as bad as his sister?

I mean, he's over-acting like this, and... true, he confesses what he did to his mom and takes full responsibility for what his actions, but, my hatred for his sister aside, I think he shouldn't lower himself to her level and be as horrid as she was....

I mean, I probably overreacted back then, but I was always overreacting when I was younger (I was scared of Tweedledee and Tweedledum for some reason back when I was that age...

), but still, if this boy is clever enough to imagine up all these strange things he conjures in his mind.... Hopefully he doesn't become TOO unattached from the real world.

Maybe I'm just overthinking things a bit...

Max's teacher teaches him and his classmates about the eventual death of the sun. Well, judging by how young this boy is, I understand the fact that this news comes as a bit of a shock. Don't worry Max, it won't be for another few MILLION years until the sun dies.... But I was often taking things a bit too literally when I was that age too....
Wow.... I can really relate to this boy a lot, can't I?

Okay, my sister wasn't as mean as his was, and I wasn't destroying my sister's room on a regular basis, but the imaginations he has, how he doesn't fully understand some facts in the way they're meant to be taken, and what he does when he's all alone... I think one of the many good things in this film that I feel many people overlook is how relatable Max is.... I mean, think back to when you were younger – you conjured up all sorts of wonderful things in your imagination when you were all alone, didn't you?

To some people who criticise this film, the little boy comes across as loud, obnoxious and idiotic...

True... the boy may be a bit of a handful at times, but come on... He's nowhere near as bad as, say, Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck It Ralph, Koda from Brother Bear or Pippi Longstocking.

I feel that Max is more like, again, Martin from The Secret of NIMH – loud, arrogant, but still having some degrees of likeability that render him, overall, a likeable character.

But, with THAT said... the next scene comes across as a bit mean-spirited, for both people who love AND hate Max's loud behaviour...

Max makes a fort in his room out of his bedclothes and toys, but his mother Connie invites her boyfriend Adrian to dinner. Max becomes upset with his mother for not coming to the fort he made in his room.

Oooooh, that's pretty bad. Another thing I feel like I can relate to when I was younger was that I was nowhere NEAR as independent as I am today... I always wanted to have someone pay attention to me – when I did something or made something I thought was a masterpiece, I wanted my family/parents to see it... Not yet knowing that I'm not the only one in the world who needs to be paid attention to.... But I don't think I ever reacted the same way that Max does to this....

He wears his wolf costume, acts like an animal, and demands to be fed.......

Okay, this made me think 'Is he an 8 year old, or a 5 year old?!'

As I said, I don't really remember TOO much about what I was like when I was 8, but I have a basic idea about the kinds of things I did... But, yeah... looking at this scene, a portrayal of an average 8 year old boy NOW.... Was I REALLY that barbaric at that age?!

I mean, I can imagine I may have had tantrums like this when I was younger and wanted attention, as I probably hadn't been disciplined correctly yet, but I think this also came across to many people who disliked this film as a pretty unpleasant scene... And, to be honest... I don't blame them...

When his mother gets upset, he throws a tantrum and bites her on the shoulder......

Yes, I said that right.......
He BITES his MOM on the shoulder.... Now, if it was like Lilo in Lilo and Stitch biting Myrtle Edmunds, I could appreciate that, as Myrtle is a brat who I despise who all the hatred in my heart

, but still.....

Well, again, at least he isn't the satanic child Pippi Longstocking, Myrtle Edmunds, Diamond Tiara or Molly from Pokemon 3 were (yes, I absolutely HATED Molly, that self-centered little brat...) ....

But still, Max runs away, and yet again.... Mean-spirited overtones tend to get in the way. We hear the boyfriend say 'Please don't shout at him like that!' and the concept of a LOVED ONE RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME is always pretty dark, no matter what you're watching....

In the Spongebob episode Have You Seen This Snail (one of the best season 4 eps, in my opinion), in the Pingu episode Pingu Runs Away, in Disney's Pinocchio (Pinocchio and his father Gepetto are away from each other for TWO THIRDS OF THE MOVIE

) and The Little Mermaid with Ariel.... As always, the concept of a loved one being in danger, away from a place where they know they'll be safe, and being placed in unknown places where they'll never know what to expect, it is always a delicate theme in quite a few films I've watched.

And then, as Max finds the edge of a pond... We begin to take a trip into the main reason why I LOVE this film so much.

He finds a boat, and he goes sailing away through the pond. Sounds pretty simple right? WRONG. As the pond becomes an ocean.... we see Max become immersed in the world that he's most comfortable in..... His imagination.

While writing this review, I was talking to my friend

who also enjoyed the dreamlike setting Max creates for himself in his imaginary world.

And this also factors into the main problem people who snipe this film have.... many complain about the lack of logic and proper story in Max's imagination.

Since when do you need LOGIC in your imagination, especially an 8-year old's imagination?

Before I saw this film, I also questioned the fact that I heard about the story being... nonexistent at times, but I was introduced to the idea that the film is like a child's imagination, and therefore, it can be whatever it wants, like in a dream.

And that fixed the problem for me.... Watch the film, and try to remember what YOUR imagination was like when you were that age, hopefully you'll remember such strange fantasies in your imagination.

Max reaches an island. The island is pretty believable at the moment.... If you can buy a boy commandeering a boat through the sea by himself.... But still, I've walked through quite a few forests like the one he arrives in.

Also, I've actually been in places similar to the rest of the settings in the boy's imagination world too... But I'll get to those in time.

Still in his wolf costume, Max stumbles upon a group of seven large, monstrous creatures. And here is where yet another thing I love about this film comes in.... The effects and costumes.

These effects are a mixture of CGI, costumes and other high-tech wizardry.

They remind me an awful lot of what you would get if the costumes from The Neverending Story were mixed with the special effects from Owls of Ga'Hoole.

I do enjoy the designs.... they look like big fluffy little yeti-trolls.

One of them, Carol, is in the middle of a destructive tantrum caused by a female wild thing named K.W. leaving while the others attempt to stop him. I think that Carol is an embodiment of Max's temperament.

And also, he represents the health of the imagination world.

As for the rest of these creatures, I'm not really sure what they're supposed to represent, if anything, but still, I still think Max did a good job conjuring up forms and characteristics for these creatures.

We see Carol start breaking...... I don't know, gigantic bird's nests?

Well, one of these creatures is a bird, so... Maybe he has multiple wives?

Maybe that or he made too many nests for Rarity at the Winter Wrap Up, and now he's stuck with them.

Perhaps that's why Carol is destroying them, the bird one is sick of seeing them, so he asked Carol to destroy them all.

As Carol wreaks havoc Max tries to join the mayhem, but it seems that he's unwelcome among them. I feel that this when the boy is trying to imagine up some kind of relationship he can have with these monsters, but while he's trying to think up something, they act slightly hostile towards him, and plan to eat him...

And while we're on the subject of troll like yetis eating children... And because I don't know any better...

They're eating her...... and then they're going to eat me..... OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

Anyway, Max convinces them that he is a king with magical powers capable of bringing harmony to the group. They crown him as their king. The boy has become the king of his own imagination, a metaphor to the control he has over his imagination... and how it's where he feels more welcome.

MAYBE I'm reading a bit too much into this, perhaps it was simply a scenario that Max imagined up for him to have fun in his imaginary world, and what I said may not have been what the director/author of the book this was based on had intended, but still, one thing I like about this film is how people can read into what the film says in different ways.

The Wild Things introduce themselves as Carol (the main one, played by James Gandolfini), Ira (looks like a troll version of Judge Claude Frollo

, and is played by Forest Whitaker), Judith (the dreadlocked one – who could resemble Max's sister, played by Catherine O'Hara

) , Alexander (the goat-like one, played by Paul Dano), Douglas (the bird one, played by Chris Cooper), The Bull (the bull one...

, played by Michael Berry Jr.), and K.W. (could resemble Max's mother, or possibly not – but some people read into her character as being like his mother

, played by Lauren Ambrose

). The personalities and characteristics of these monsters do change a few times in this film, and.... again, maybe it's because Max has created these monsters in his imagination and simply changes his perception of them at times – like with MY Pokemon characters, I sometimes end up making new things all the time for them.

But at times, they do have some genuine unique character development.

For example, Carol is impulsive and represents Max's relationship with his imaginary world, K.W. is a loner and Carol's love interest, Douglas is a peace-keeper and Carol's best friend, and it was pretty clear when we see Max start to join in the destruction of the giant bird's nests (did he make them... or is he just tired of people destroying everything.

), Ira is gentle, shy and soft-spoken (he often finds it difficult to make himself heard in this film), Judith is a loud-mouthed personality who is Ira's girlfriend – she reminds me of Dynamique the Raichu or Bayonetta at times – but luckily, unlike Bayonetta, she doesn't use her hair to eat people

, Alexander is constantly ignored, forgotten and mistreated by the others (he's actually pretty tragic at times...

Now that I think about it, he came VERY close to being on my Top 15 Favourite Tragic Characters list, as I felt that he didn't do anything wrong, and yet he gets ignored often... Maybe it's simply because Max has problems looking after all his imaginary friends at once.... A problem I have with my Pokemon characters, unfortunately

) and The Bull is large, intimidating, wants to stick to himself and rarely speaks... But I think I remember that he does threaten Max early on.

And of course... the costumes are incredible, as I said before. I love how REAL these characters look.... Funnily enough, I think I can see where a lot of the film's budget went into.

Carol takes Max on a tour of the island – through a desert, next to the sea, some forests and some caves and plains. The segways, as I said before are nonexistent at times, but again, if this is a child's imagination, at times, it doesn't need segways.

Again, in an earlier scene, we see the monsters.... er, throw each other about into trees.....

And then, after they've had fun by ... throwing each other about like the Angry Birds or 2 in 9

, they then proceed to have a nap.

Max is simply going through what he feels likes doing – if he wants to be loud and rebellious, his characters would abide by his imagination. If he feels tired, his characters take a nap together.

Once again, I do enjoy how this film analyses the changing emotions of Max, and how his characters follow by his changing emotions with him, and how Max's relationships with his characters changes, but Max is also coming up with new ways his characters can react with him.

Also, in these scenes, I do find myself enjoying Max's character more.

True, he was a bit obnoxious in the scenes with his mom, but again, he feels more comfortable in his imaginary world, and I can just imagine him relating to the characters he makes to the way that Bastian in Neverending Story feels Atreyu's emotions with him, and how he is also responsible for the fate of the characters in the story, as he is the one who is imagining the settings and characters in the book.

Max may be loud in some of these scenes, but at times, when he feels slightly tired and relaxes with his characters, he can be quiet.

It's not like with Vanellope Von Schweetz, who was constantly screaming and screeching all the way through Wreck-It Ralph (covers face with arms in defensive stance, imagining loud booing from people who are reading this

), or like Pippi Longstocking who was..........

Well, let's just say... unpleasant.
But in this, Max does show some definite likeable personality traits when he reacts with his imaginary friends.

Carol shows Max a model he built depicting what he wishes the island looked like. Inspired by this, Max orders the construction of an enormous fort, with Carol in charge of construction. Wow, a child construction worker? Hopefully the REAL world doesn't accept him in a building firm...

Anyway, I do enjoy the huge.... erm, mothball structure they build.

Almost looks like the ball that Celebi makes when it's infected by the Iron Masked Marauder's Dark Ball in Pokemon 4 Ever, doesn't it?

Luckily, this ball doesn't try to kill you... It's just a funny looking fort.

As Max bonds with Carol, they make a definite friendship, but then, some friction occurs between the group when K.W. introduces Max to her two owl friends Bob and Terry.

These two owls are pretty cute, and funnily enough, even though they simply screech and make... owl sounds

, they're somehow MUCH more interesting than most of the characters in Legends of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole.

Anyway, this is an example of Max creating more characters, but he finds it difficult to care for all of them equally.

A disagreement ensues as Carol feels the togetherness of their group is threatened by the outsiders. To release their frustrations, Max divides the tribe into "good guys" and "bad guys" for a dirt-ball fight. OOOOH dear...... big mistake, Max...

All of the characters have no real good or evil traits... So someone being dubbed as a bad guy may not be good for keeping the world in good health.

But hopefully, it'll be like Zangief says in Wreck-It Ralph – 'Just because you are a 'bad guy', does not mean you are a bad guy.'

But unfortunately, I felt pretty sad for the characters dubbed as 'bad guys', as this means that they may be ostracised from their friends... It's not like when you're playing with friends, and sometimes, children prefer to be the villains as they find them so much fun – but here, the characters have no real alignment with good or evil, so being dubbed 'bad guys' may be pretty hard for them – and it may make the wild things believe that Max favours some of them over the others...

Perhaps Max should have said 'blue team' and 'green team'.... But maybe some of the characters may not like those colours.

And of course, Alexander gets badly hurt in the game.

And this is where the imaginary world starts to become more dark and depressing..... Like in Coraline, where the Other Mother's world's true colours start to shine through, here, the world is becoming more and more uninviting. Max still goes through his imaginary games... But does not know why the world is becoming more sad. He can't control his own imagination and does not understand how it works.... yikes.

After an argument between K.W. and Carol, K.W. leaves. Oh no, if Carol is becoming more angry, it may mean Max's imaginary world is losing health, if Carol represents Max's imaginative side.

The one that Max seemed to get along with most is becoming more and more hostile.....

Another thing I felt become slightly more foreboding was when Max, remembering his science class, told Carol that the sun was dying. And, strangely enough, throughout the time that Max is in his imaginary world, the sun starts to become dimmer and dimmer. True, it'll most likely be just the cycle of the day, and the sun setting, but still... In a little child's mind, which has no concept of the solar cycle yet, it may actually seem like the sun is dying.

This also gives me an idea of ANOTHER thing that turned people away from this film.... It gets pretty dark as the film goes on. Personally, I like that in a children's film, like in Return to Oz, Black Cauldron, Secret of NIMH and An American Tail. It shows that it doesn't have to sugar coat the darker stuff for children – in fact, this segment of the film does remind me of the creepy Pingu episode Pingu Runs Away... Which STILL makes me uneasy when I see it today, I might add... Similar effects to the Creepy Red Walrus...

Pingu becomes scared when he runs away, and in his fear, he starts seeing scary images in the snow mounds he comes across... To a frightened child mind, even the slightest things can be terrifying, and both the episode of Pingu AND Where The Wild Things Are do well to show what happens when a child wants to stop spending time alone, perhaps in their own imaginary world, and just wants to return home to reality.

However, at this moment, Max doesn't realise that, but he does notice that the words becomes more and more cold and bitter as time goes on. It's not really SCARY in this film's sense, but it does still become pretty upsetting.

Max finds Alexander alone in the fort and has a conversation with him. Alexander reveals that he always suspected that Max is not a king with magical powers, but warns him to never let Carol know. Again, reality is beginning to come back to Max, and he knows that he is not really a king, he just made that fantasy up for himself, and even though he KNOWS he is not a king, he finds it hard to come to grips with what he has fantasised is false... Again, when children become immersed in a world they have imagined, it can be very difficult to come to grips with reality and accept it

And then, the REALLY dark stuff comes when Carol learns that Max was never a king.... so, it's as if his imaginary world now knows it's not real...

Carol becomes enraged and ends up ripping off Douglas' right arm!

True, sand starts coming out of the wound, but still.... when I saw that, I thought to myself 'YIKES...'

This, for me, is the equivalent to the scene in Coraline when we see the Other Wybie's mouth stitched up , and when he blows away his arm, revealing that under the surface, he and the rest of the Other Mother's world is nothing but a fake.

They do lighten up the moment slightly with Douglas saying 'That was my favourite arm...'

Okay, that's a bit funny... I wish I could be so nonchalant about having a LIMB ripped off... It's like 5 in 9 being nonchalant about losing one of his eyes – 'Means I only have to focus on one thing at a time, you know?'

And luckily, this scene is nowhere near as bad as when Pendleton loses his hand in Dead Space Downfall...

Then he chases Max into the forest and threatens to eat him. And then, we get another creepy scene, when Max is saved by K.W., who hides him in her stomach.
Wait..... WHAT?!

Yeah, K.W. puts Max in her mouth, and Max then looks upwards, and you can see K.W's mouth...

Again, nowhere near as terrifying as, say, the scene in An American Tail when Fievel GOES DOWN A CAT'S THROAT (sorry, I still can't get over how horrifying that scene was – Don Bluth can get away with a lot of scary stuff...

) And, funnily enough, Max can still talk to K.W. while he's in her STOMACH, and there isn't any stomach acid, thankfully, so this isn't scary in the slightest, just weird...

Needless to say, this is nowhere near as bad as the nightmare scene in the infamous Spongebob episode One Coarse Meal where Plankton dissolves in Pearl's stomach acid....

Perhaps in THIS scene the Troll 2 quote would be more apt...

They're eating her..... And then they're going to eat ME. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD!
Sorry... I just love that quote so much!

Carol and K.W. have an argument over Carol's misbehaviour..... and we even see Carol sniff for Max down K.W.'s throat...

Pretty strange, no?

After Carol leaves, K.W. explains that the monsters lives are difficult, with Carol's tantrums making things worse. And then, something clicks for me.

The monster's lives, aka. The lives of Max's fantasies, are constantly changing, what with Max's erratic imagination and constant new ideas and dreams, but he has to keep a grip on the real world too, which is what K.W. means by his tantrums making things worse... maybe this means that Max spends too much time trying to live in his imaginary world and needs to spend some more time with his family, not allowing himself to become too immersed in his fantasies.

At least, that's my interpretation of it... Having an imagination is perfectly reasonable, but you have to still keep a grip on what's real.... I feel this is slightly like American McGee's Alice, where Wonderland and its inhabitants are based on Alice's real life, but she has to keep a grip on the real world as well to keep the world inviting.

Max realizes what his mother is going through and decides to leave the island to head home.... Max wasn't aware all this time that all he wanted was to return home, that he had had enough of his fantasy world and just wanted to go back home to his mother.... Even children will soon recognise, while immersed in their fantasies, they want to go back to reality... Even if it takes a while for them to realise that's what's wrong.

Max finds the crushed remains of Carol's model island and leaves a token of affection for him to find (a letter C inside a love-heart made of twigs)...

The other Wild Things escort Max to his boat when he says goodbye to Carol, telling him the truth about him not being a king. Max says goodbye to all of the wild things, and..... wait a minute, I just realised.... WHERE ARE THE TWO OWLS?

Maybe I didn't notice them, but.... Were they actually in the ending scene? Anyway, I do find it a bit of morbid humour that Douglas has replaced his arm with an 'Azog the Defiler' style snowman stick arm.

Azog is from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, by the way.

Carol runs to join them after finding Max's token and arrives in time to see him off. He starts to howl and Max howls back, then all the other Wild Things join in.
Hopefully, Max will imagine up new adventures for him and the wild things in any future fantasies he has, and his imagination will continue to thrive.

So, Max leaves his imaginary world, and returns back home to his mom. Returning home, Max is embraced by his distraught mother, who gives him his supper – this, again, reminds me of Pingu Runs Away, when Pingu's parents find their son, and they return him home, and all is well. Obviously, all children fall out with their parents once in a while, but still, at that age, they're bound to make mistakes, and there's always a chance for them to learn from their mistakes, and in this case, maybe running away from home may only occur vary rarely in the real world, but this is a realistic example of family problems, in my opinion.... But, if this was a real situation, where are the POLICE?

I mean, couldn't the mom have called the police to look for her son?

Unless time seemed to pass slowly for Max, as it often does for young children I'm sure, and more time seemed to pass in his imaginary world than did in real time. That would probably explain why Max couldn't hear any loud sirens in his imaginary world or his mom calling out for him.

But other than that, I feel that this scenario of running away from home, wanting to spend time on their own, and then returning home when he knows he doesn't want to be alone anymore could be considered plausible.

Even if the child was in a lot of trouble, surely the child has learnt from their mistakes, and seen as one of his imaginary friends said that his tantrums cause problems for them, it could teach him not to be so angry all the time, and not have as many outbursts as he had in the past.

Perhaps children can learn just as much from their own imagination as they can from their real life experiences... as long as they can keep a close grip on both.

..... Honestly, guys... I thought this film was okay.

The main character is relatable, the effects and costumes are impressive, and the settings and creatures in Max's imagination are nothing short of creative.

Why do so many people hate this film so much? Just because it's weird doesn't mean it's bad...

Maybe most people just aren't used to seeing films without a linear story or logical settings or plot, or with any distinct heroes or villains.... But this film showed just how wild a child's imagination can be, and the film handled it pretty well.

With that said, though, this film isn't without its faults.

First of all, Max doesn't arrive in his imaginary world until about 20 minutes in, so the time in his imagination feels slightly too short. I know that may sound weird, as most of the film DOES take place in his fantasy world, but it's like in Felidae, where I loved the film, but I just wished that there was more of it. Maybe if they did a film like this where it JUST took place in a child's imagination, removing the real world from it.... I don't mind having the real world in the film, I just think it could be slightly more interesting and surreal, and therefore, more creative if it just shows the inside of a child's imaginary world... With some references and hints at the child's reality. Hopefully someone will do a film like that in the future... Maybe a director like David Lynch, who I've heard does films like this.

Secondly, the main character does feel a bit obnoxious at times, again, not the worst I've seen, but still, it did feel a bit distracting how Max's personality felt at times.

Other than those flaws, I personally have no problems with this film.

....
Sigh, if only some of the other films I reviewed were as merciful...

Here are some thoughts from one of my friends who commented on my poll.

says –
'I watched that recently! A very odd film... but there's actually a lot I could take from it, which is great.
It becomes a very dream-like atmosphere... like everything when he's in his imagination's world feels exactly like how I feel when I remember dreams I had. All the characters seemed to act like children too... it was really like they came from his imagination. Surprisingly, I love that part of it.
I didn't like the main character, though, I generally don't like kids that act that way... lying and acting selfish. However, the character seems quite real, at least in the emotions he feels and how he responds to them.
I appreciate the film more for the tone it creates, which is a similar tone that I want to generate in one of my projects.'
As for me, I believe that this is a film worth checking out..... Maybe it's weird, but again, I'm glad I saw it.

It's a film with some great effects, creative and visually pleasing settings, designs and creatures, and of course, like the main character, it has some great levels of –