When someone showed me the trailer this summer, I freaked out. Obviously, this book was one of my favorites as a young tyke and to see it brought to the big screen by two of my favorite artists working today, Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze, made me giddy like a nine-year old on pixy stix. The film captures the images from the book as well as I could hope, and manages to convey all the conflicting emotions perfectly. It brings me back to a time in my life when everything was hyper-important and my feelings controlled me more than I controlled them and imagination truly was more important than knowledge. It is a bit sad that we lose this raw creativity that is so vital in kids; if this were a story about a man my age, he would be deemed a psycopath. Kids are allowed, and for a time even encouraged, to be insane but as they grow up, they are expected to leave their imaginary adventures behind and never return to the island of the wild things. It is inspiring to see this world recreated by adults who do understand the importance of play and exhibit a spark of the joie de vivre that characterizes a child’s world. Let the wild rumpus continue!
Posted inKids
Hi Stephen–I had been thinking that I wanted to take you to see this movie, but now you need to take me! Of all of the books I read to you, this was one of the most fun–you loved it, the somewhat scary drama of it, the pictures and images it conjured up–it was a perfect fit for your imaginative mind and inclination toward “rumpus”….
Thanks for letting me rage, mom!