Where the Wild Things Are: Should I Take My 5 Year Old?

Honestly, I don't think I'd take him if I were you considering the issues you are having with him. The boy (and the monsters) have what I would call rages where he gets very mad and tears up things or acts very badly. The boy is pretty much ignored and is angry when his mom brings home a date for dinner. He ends up biting his mom and runs out the door. A little bit earlier he tears up his sister's room. The monsters pretty much act the same way and the main one tears things up and has rages when he gets upset. I was uncomfortable with the movie for my kids and I'm generally pretty laid back when it comes to the content of kids movies (within reason, of course)

I went with my 7 & 5 year olds as part of a birthday party. They both say they liked the movie, but were both pretty bored about half way through.

I hope this helps!

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My sister told me about this website and I think everyone should take a closer look at movies before they take their children. Go to pluggedin.com and they have movies broken down into elements of the movie: positive, spiritual, sexual, violence, crude or profane language, drug/alcohol, other negative and conclusion. I love this website. I have three girls and we screen what they watch, expecially the sexual and the crude/profane language...I just dont see why they put some of it in the movie, it's not like it make it better if the say sh.. Anyways, I hope this helps. It sure has helped us.
God bless

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I saw it at a birthday party that my 6 year old went too. All the kids were 6 or 7 and most were scared or cried. I am not a fan of the movie and would not suggest going to see it.

Haven't seen it, but have heard that it's very "dark" and disturbing and a friend who saw it said it's NOT for kids at all. Have you checked out reviews online?
http://parentpreviews.com/movie-reviews/where-the-wild-th...
and www.commonsensemedia.org

We'll continue to enjoy the book at home, and leave the movie alone.

We saw the movie this past weekend with our children ages 8, 13, 15 & 19. The 8 year old got bored & really didn't get it. She also said it was a little "crazy". My 13 year old really understood it but he said it was LONG. My 15 & 19 year olds liked it.

It is a message movie and the message is stated through actions and imagery. It is not a movie for young children and it really can be scary to young kids. There were parents taking kids 5 and under out crying from the movie when we were there.

Hey Alyssa,

My 5 year old daughter was dying to see it and my husband promised her he would bring her when it came out. We all went...5, 4 and 2 plus hubby and me. The opening scene scared ME! We don't have behavioral issues in our family, but I was very concerned after watching that movie that we might. It doesn't follow the book except in the costumes and the very basic idea that Max was naughty. Maurice Sendak is groaning somewhere! It does explore a bit (I guess) Max digging deep to figure out why he gets angry and possibly better ways to handle it...but honestly on the 5 and under crowd it doesn't really come through. All they see is a bunch of big monsters who want to eat Max! A bit scary!!!! The movie itself is okay though. I really did like the costumes!

My 5 year old said "Momma that is not a movie for kids". He loved the book btw

We took my 5 year old boy and 7 year old girl on Friday to see the movie. They both enjoyed it. I was also concerned at first that the beginning of the movie was giving my son some good ideas on how to act out, like he doesn't already know them. But I felt the movie did a good job of Max being able to see himself in Carol's bad behavior and was able to see how acting out in anger negatively effected your friends and family. After the movie, we took the time to talk to our kids about it to reinforce that message. Neither of my kids were scared during the movie. My son, who usually is ready to go half way through a movie, stayed glued to it. All kids are different. If you have a chance, I would check with his counselor to get their opinion.

Good luck,
B.

I haven't seen the movie, but I did read an interview with Maurice Sendak in Entertainment Weekly, and he said he didn't WANT the movie to be made for kids. He felt like the themes were better explored on a more adult level. The director, Spike Jonze, agreed with him, which is why the movie is really not kid-friendly. If I see it, it will be without my 5- and 2-year-olds.

Alyssa-

Go to kidsinmind.com. I've been using them for years. I have looked at a LOT of other websites for rating movies and they are far and away THE BEST. They are extremely thorough and detailed in their evaluations. While sometimes I have been suprised at what they might consider offensive, I am glad that they err on the side of caution. They will give you exact descriptions of the scenes and you can judge for yourself if you think your kiddo can handle it. I absolutley LOVE their site. My 3yo wants to see it too. But after reading their descriptions, I think there's some things she may find frightening.

Good luck, HTH,

L.

My sister and I took her 3 kids, ages 2,4,8 and they loved it. It's a bit dark and scary in some parts but they really liked the music and the setting. We saw it at Studio Movie Grill. If your child gets nightmares then wait until its on dvd when he's alittle bit older. My sister's children did not have nightmares at all.

I heard from another lady who heard reviews and said that little kids might get scared. That is a very rough movie with lots of monsters. I have not seen it, so I can't comment on it.

If it was me and taking my 4 year old. I wouldn't do it. You might want to wait till it comes on video and you watch it first and then choose whether your Son sees it or not.

check out www.pluggedin.com for a family friendly based review.

I took my little girl (6) the day is came out with several of her friends (also the same age) and was VERY sorry that I did! 4 of them cried...2 of them wanted to leave in the first 15 minutes...and the rest of them were scared the whole time. That being said....I myself liked the movie. Although I think I would have liked it more had I been with just adults!

I took my kids (9, 6, 4yrs)to see the movie last weekend. We were very excited to see the movie b/c we love the book. It was disapointing for me. The movie is strange. I enjoyed parts of it, but my children were stared at times and did not understand what was going on. I would not recommend it. There is no mention about divorce in the movie. As an adult you understand that the parents are divorced, but my children did not understand that. It was not a happy-good children's movie. Thanks.