Where The Wild Fishes Called Wanda Are

Warning: Spoilers ahead. If you don’t want to see them, back away slowly.


Not since “A Fish Called Wanda” has there been such a vast chasm between the way I feel about a movie and the collective adoration expelled by others. I never understood the affection for “A Fish Called Wanda”. Several of my friends at the time even listed it as their favorite movie ever. EVER! I hated it. I didn’t think it was remotely funny, and the hype surrounding it only made me more steadfast in that belief that it sucked. hard. That was what? 20 years ago? It’s probably about time that chasm opened again.

Enter “Where The Wild Things Are”.

The hype machine in full rev for weeks before the actual release, we went to see this one on Saturday. @aaronh had high hopes. He loves Spike Jonez. I’ve enjoyed him as well, ever since the “Sabotage” video. Sorry Kanye…best video of all time. Also, it was the Beastie Boys, so…

Anyway, the beginning of the movie was beautiful, an exceptional capture of childhood loneliness and powerlessness. The kid was phenomenal. I completely believed him, and when he stood up out of the wreckage of the igloo, weeping with the ache of laughter that suddenly and unexpectedly had turned to tears, my heart broke for him. His lashing out was completely believable. His mom, so clearly delighted by him, but wistful about their situation was so right on. Starting your life over is hard. Carrying all the responsibility is HARD. Doing that with lovely creatures looking to you for comfort when you have very little yourself, is SO FREAKING HARD. His running out into the night, furious, hurt and alone, so sad and frightening. Off he goes in his boat on the endless sea.

That’s where the suck started.

Imagine spending an hour trapped in a room with a half dozen unrepentant hyperactive children, who are also inexplicably dosed on lithium and speak only in morbid, melancholic tones. Were there a few moments here and there? Absolutely. However, overall there was just nothing special about anything that happened with the Wild Things. I love every one of the actors voicing them, but the movement, the costumes, the lack of growth in the story negated all of that. I wouldn’t have believed it myself. Max showed up with the Wild Things totally out of control and destructive, and left with them exactly the same way. I sat in the dark, mystified at all the wonderful praise I have seen thrown at this movie, and wondering what must be wrong with me that it just wasn’t connecting with me AT ALL. I could not WAIT for him to get back in that skiff and paddle the hell out of there.

Back in the real world again, we were back to a beautifully shot and acted movie. The interactions between Max and his mother were so simple, yet so perfect and again SO RIGHT ON. I’d have loved to see more of them together, or more Max with his sister or just more of Max in the real world. People are infinitely more complex and interesting than muppets. They just are.

After the lights came up, I waited and asked @aaronh what he had thought of the movie. I didn’t say a word, wanting to be sure not to poison his impressions with my bad attitude had he loved it. He didn’t love it. He voiced the same things that had been swimming around in my head while I waited for the infernal minutes with the Wild Things to tick by. THANK. GOD. We may have had to enter counseling had we been polarized on this one. It would speak to greater incompatibility. For the record, he also hated “A Fish Called Wanda”.