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Will ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ make you cry?
by Tracy V. Wilson | September 29, 2009
James Gandolfini as Carol and Max Records as Max in "Where the Wild Things Are." Feeling misty yet? (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
If you’ve been following Nathan Fillion on Twitter, you might have noticed his advice back in May on how to tell whether your date is a robot: “Go to see Pixar’s UP. If your date doesn’t cry, robot.”
I’m pretty sure that same rule is going to apply to “Where the Wild Things Are,” which opens in U.S. theaters on Oct. 16. My theory comes from my scientifically unsound sample of one: I’ve gotten choked up over every single trailer and TV spot I’ve laid my eyes on. This was a big turnaround for me, since I started out as a big “Wild Things” nay-sayer. (A feature film based on a book that’s only 10 sentences long? Give me my childhood back!) But now that I’ve seen some footage, I get the sense that a whole generation of people who pined for Max and the Wild Things as children are now trapped in adulthood with our responsibilities and our Shop Vacs, sniffling over the trailers.
I know I’m not the only person who has had this reaction, but I haven’t figured out whether those of us who keep reaching for the tissues are just a vocal minority. So I propose an experiment: I’ll show you five glimpses of “Where the Wild Things Are.” You’ll tell me whether you felt a little misty and, if you did, why. And if you don’t get teary-eyed, you’ll tell me whether you’re a robot (or maybe a cynic). If you’ve never read “Where the Wild Things Are” and don’t care about the movie, you’re in the control group.
Thing One: The picture at the top right.
Thing Two: The soundtrack, which you can listen to streaming at imeem.
Thing Three: The second theatrical trailer:
Thing Four: This TV spot, which is mostly unlike the trailers.
Thing Five: One more picture.
Max Records as Max and Lauren Ambrose as KW. She'll eat him up, she loves him so. (Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
Well?
(If anyone needs me, I’ll be watching TV spots until “I’ll eat you up, I love you so” has no effect on me.)
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Ali E says:
The first time I saw the movie trailers in the theatre I indeed got all weepy. I think it’s the soundtrack. So I think that’s 2 out of 5 already.
I was a naysayer too, as this was one of my favorite books as a child, but now I’m looking forward to it.
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Patrick H says:
Well have you ever listened to any Arcade Fire? If not, you should STAT! It is the music. I would actually love to see it with a different soundtrack and see if you still want to cry. Maybe some Iggy Pop or David Bowie.
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Tracy V. Wilson says:
Ali — the first time I saw the teaser in the theater, I turned to the person next to me and said, “Now I’m all conflicted. I was ready to hate this movie, but that trailer really got to me.”
Patrick — I have some Arcade Fire songs on my iPod but not a ton. Music definitely has a huge impact. I still get choked up when I hear the part of the “Return of the King” score where Sam says “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you.” I think in both cases it’s as much what’s being said as the music that’s accompanying it, though.
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Harrison says:
I did tear up a bit watching the trailers. It’s the combination of Arcade Fire and the amazing typography driving the points of the movie home.
And then my wife pointed out that we are not going to see a movie where a child suffers a psychotic break because he’s pissed he had to go to his room for being a little jerk.
However, she does drag me to everything that has Matthew McConaughey, so I think I’m due.
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Charles says:
I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS MOVIE.
And Harrison – you’re a wuss.
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I’m pretty sure I’m going to have the “Neverending Story” theme stuck in my head for the rest of the day. That’s also a really great book, which I didn’t know until long after seeing the movie in the theater.
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Robert Lamb says:
I still get kind of a Fire Gang from “Labyrinth” vibe off some of these monsters.
~rl
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The “Neverending Story” theme has now been replaced by “Chilly Down” in the soundtrack in my head.
The potential Fire Gang connection isn’t necessarily that far off — Jim Henson’s Creature Shop made the monsters (and conceived of them as puppets to be puppeteered from the inside according to a NYT article I looked at yesterday).
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Oh dear. I am totally a robot.
But wait! I misted over for “UP”. And I was a wreck for “The Fox and the Hound” from the first frame on. So what does that make me? A confused robot?
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Hi, Magnolia! I’m willing to bet that people who didn’t have the picture book as part of their very early childhood years have had a sort of inoculation-by-absence.
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Magnolia says:
You think? I read WTWTA as an adult, so maybe you have a point. I loved it when I read it, but preferred IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN which I saw/read around the same time.
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That is my guess. For me, “Where the Wild Things Are” is tied up with memories of being read to by my mother and being an imaginative little kid, and then with sharing those memories with other people as I got older. Tiny tiny book, huge emotional load.
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Brian "The Great Guy" says:
I get really emotional whenever I see that picture of Max and Carol on the beach. It just captures the feeling of the story so well.
btw(nerd alert) I was reading the comments and I saw that you get choked up just from hearing the music in Return of the King. For me, the whole part where Gandalf says “Farewell… My brave hobbits” makes me start choking up. And then when he says “I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are evil” I just start sobbing. A few weeks ago, I decided to listen to the soundtrack and when I got to that part, and what do you know? exact same thing happened. Holy crap, I’m getting choked up as I type this. I better stop.
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just realized my sentence structure was a crap. sorry about that.
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Do not fret. If I were getting choked up about Gandalf and Frodo taking the ship to the Undying Lands, I probably would not be able to write at all. Unless maybe I were writing something along the lines of “OMG, did you see how as soon as Frodo set foot on the boat, the color came back to his cheeks? I need a tissue.”
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Chanel Lee says:
Oh man. I knew nothing about Lord of the Rings until I saw the film trilogy and loved it. When Aragorn turned to the hobbits at the end and said, “you bow to no one” and everyone bowed to them instead, I lost it. Completely. I was audibly sobbing in the theatre, and I NEVER cry at movies.
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I don’t remember if I cried any reading LOTR (which I certainly loved), but nothing Jackson did with the film managed to summon that level of emotion out of me. Nice FX, but I found other areas of the film lacking.
I remember “Neverending Story” putting me through the ringer, though.
~rl
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The first time I re-watched “Neverending Story” as an adult, I had forgotten about Artax, and I sat on the couch and wept.
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Edwin says:
I cried… then cried some more… I am glad I’m not alone.
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steve says:
not alone edwin i cried alot and will be bawling in movie
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Catboy says:
When I first saw this I laught really hard. I’m like the only oldest real wild thing in the US. I’m over obsessed with the wild things. I love being my wild thing & I’m 25.
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Clark says:
ya i think that the first theatrical trailer is a lot more emotional and made me tear up than the second one posted on this page, why didnt you add the first trailer?!?
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niki510 says:
Thank you for your post. I love it. I too have been struck my this lovely adaptation of a much beloved classic. I must admit I was having a very hard time with the trailer from the very first time I saw it now I cry everytime I see it. especially the part with MAX & KW. Just the site of seeing such a wonderful book that has meant alot for so many in various ways being beautifully done as it captured our imaginations so long ago. part of us remember that moment in time when things were much simplier perhaps just overjoyed. For me it is a little of both & bittersweet when she says to Max “I’ll eat you up, I love you so”. that reminds me of my Mother that recently passed.
I am looking forward to sharing this movie with my husband & kiddos.I believe this will be a very memorable one. -
Rebecca says:
I cried when I saw the featurette at Apple.com (I don’t know if it’s still there) where Maurice Sendak talked about how he loves what Spike Jonze has done with the film. It’s encouraging to know that even the author thinks it captures the book well, even if the interpretation is slightly different from his own. All too often, films ruin books — in this case, I’m hoping that the film only serves to bring the book to a new generation and memories of the book back to our generation.
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[...] of time watching trailers and clips, looking at stills and listening to the soundtrack, in part to write about it in this blog. Based on all of that, I was ready for a movie that was whimsical, exuberant and [...]
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Rachel says:
Have not seen the movie yet, and have been teary over the clips and soundtrack every time I come across them. Was just thinking I will probably cry unabashedly when I see this. I am not of the generation who had the book read to them, but am of the generation who read the book to my son (I am 55, and my son, Nathan, died at age 24 in 2002). Nathan was a Wild Thing, with imagination, heart, sadness, anger, love, confusion, dreams and all the other emotions evoked. He was also a fan and friend of Dave Eggers who wrote the novelization of the story, and co-wrote the screenplay with Jonze. i am grateful for the experience of the original book, the novel, the screenplay, the soundtrack and the film. So, if the generation who had the book read to them as children cry at the movie, rest assured, your mothers probably will too.
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annie says:
i cried i loved i its so good, btw im 11
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amanda says:
I cried because of its realism and how it so closely resembled a dog I had that passed away this summer. It’s plot has some holes. It’s soundtrack is amazing. The cinematography cannot be beat. I will definitely by the DVD because I just have to see the background footage. There better be hours upon hours of it.
Fun fact: the boy who played Max is really named Max.
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