Where The Wild Things Are

The review:

It is an Ok film. Visually, it is remarkable, and the creatures are extremely well realised. The soundtrack is fitting, although just a little bit too desperate to sound like the Arcade Fire for its own good. And, mercifully for this type of film, the kid in the lead role isn't immensely irritating. However, it is neither as amusing or as dark as some people would have you believe. Despite being presented in the manner of a very well realised music video, this is a film for children. Adults won't be bored by it, but they are not going to be stunned by it either.

What I would like people to take from it (spoilers ahead):

Ok, so, the kid - whose name I can't remember - turns up on the island where the wild things are. There, he stops himself from being eaten by telling the wild things that he can make them happy, using powers he clearly does not possess. Overwhelmed by the idea that someone can actually do this, the wild things make the kid their king. He briefly distracts them, but ultimately they end up still unhappy and the kid's powers turn out to be nothing but hot air. The kid stops being their king, and pisses off somewhere else to have some cake that he really hasn't earned.

Now, regardless of authorial intention, this film can be read as a perfect allegory for the fatal flaws of modern democracy. Substitute "Tony Blair" for the kid and "electorate" for the wild things in the passage above and you have the perfect potted history of what happened under Blair in this country. And what is currently happening across the pond under one Barack Obama. The film can be interpreted as a wonderful indictment of any egotistical figure who is pumped up by others to make rash promises about future happiness, and of those who would blindly follow such a person in pursuit of a spurious and constantly elusive better tomorrow. The message of the film is that you can't make other people be happy through simply saying you want to, and you need to work at making yourself and your loved ones happy. The political message to take from this movie is that you shouldn't look to a leader with grand promises to make everything better for you; you have the ultimate responsibility to make things better for yourself.