History YMMV / WhereTheWildThingsAre

** Also, that one scene where Douglas is petting a cat.
** "Hey Richard"

* {{Narm}}: Hearing [[Series/TheSopranos James Gandolfini]] as the voice of Carol.

** Then again, Maurice Sendak has gone on record to state that the film is absolutely fine for kids "and anyone who doesn't like can go right to hell." So... there's that. Although, to be fair, the original ''was'' meant as a children's story, and Sendak has gotten more than his fair share of this trope, to the point that some teachers wanted to '''ban''' them.

* ValuesDissonance: Some have interpreted the film as being pro-imperialist, seeing as the white boy Max goes to a land of monsters and immediately becomes their king. Since the book was released in 1963, it's hard to fault it for this, though.

* NightmareFuel: Carol [[spoiler: ripping off Douglas's arm.]]

** Like Max, Carol hasn't learned to live with change and genuinely wants good things but his tantrums aren't helping matters and, from what's implied, said tantrums are the reason as to why [=KW=] spends less time around the other wild things. To top this off, at the end, [[spoiler: he doesn't even get to make amends]]

** Potentially lessened by the fact that none of the characters (including Douglas himself) react in a way that implies that Douglas is not in pain. If anything he reacts more with annoyance. However, this could go the other way, and the disproportionate reaction might make it seem even *more* unsettling.

** Max, from what we can see, mostly lashes out because he hasn't learned to cope with his parents' divorce, however, while understandable, it doesn't excuse some of the things he does that makes life harder for everyone else
** Like Max, Carol hasn't learned to live with change and genuinely wants good things but his tantrums aren't helping matters and, from what's implied, said tantrums are the reason as to why [=KW=] spends less time around the other wild things. To top this off, at the end, [[spoiler: he doesn't even get to make amends]]

* TheWoobie: Alexander. Arguably, the other wild things qualify as this, too, but he's the most obvious, as, throughout his time on the island, he's put down and ignored, thus he acts up to get attention (which, adding insult to injury, doesn't work) and, on top of this, Max doesn't even remember his name. It's not until he gets hurt that someone ''finally'' reaches out to him.

** Potentially lessened by the fact that none of the characters (including Douglas himself) react in a way that implies that Douglas is in pain. If anything he reacts more with annoyance. However, this could go the other way, and the disproportionate reaction might make it seem even *more* unsettling.

* TheWoobie: Alexander. [[spoiler:Arguably everyone except Claire, her friends, and Max's mom's boyfriend, who aren't developed enough to qualify, and the teacher, who is [[SadistTeacher kind of scary.]]]]

* AwesomeMusic: The use of [[Music/ArcadeFire Arcade Fire’s]] “Wake Up” in the movie trailer prepares the audience for the surprising amount of TearJerker moments throughout the film.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The Wild Thing suits. The combination of CGI and animatronics is ''seamless.''

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Either the monsters are [[ImaginaryFriend Imaginary Friends]] of Max, or representations of his emotions and the people he lives with. Max himself can also be seen as a child with a personality disorder.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Either the monsters are {{imaginary friend|s}} of Max, or representations of his emotions and the people he lives with. Max himself can also be seen as a child with a personality disorder.

** "Hey Richard."
* HilariousInHindsight: The film and book is all about how to deal with emotions, and, as stated above, Max could be interpreted as having a personality disorder. Ironically enough, the actor who plays Max is set to portray John Wayne Cleaver in IAmNotASerialKiller. Cleaver has an absent father, and a strained relationship with his mother, similar to Max. WordOfGod states that he was cast as Cleaver because of his performance in Where the wild things are.

** Then again, Maurice Sendak has gone on record to state that the film is absolutely fine for kids "and anyone who doesn't like that can go right to hell." So... there's that. Although, to be fair, the original ''was'' meant as a children's story, and Sendak has gotten more than his fair share of this trope, to the point that some teachers wanted to '''ban''' them.

** Also, that one scene where one of the monsters is petting a cat.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Either the monsters are [[ImaginaryFriend imaginary friends]] of Max, or representations of his emotions and the people he lives with. Max himself can also be seen as a child with a personality disorder.

* NightmareFuel: Where to begin?

** Because we never learn how the events of the movie affect Max, the ''entire trip to visit the Wild Things'' could be considered a BLAM. You could excise the sequence and not have any effect on the "real world" plot aside from making the movie a lot shorter.

** Because we never learn how the events of the movie effect Max, the ''entire trip to visit the Wild Things'' could be considered a BLAM. You could excise the sequence and not have any effect on the "real world" plot aside from making the movie a lot shorter.

** Then again, Maurice Sendak has gone on record to state that the film is absolutely fine for kids "and anyone who doesn't like that can go right to hell." So... there's that. Although, to be fair, the original ''was'' meant as a children's story, and Sendak has gotten his fair share of this trope from his books, to the point that some teachers wanted to '''ban''' his books.

** Then again, Maurice Sendak has gone on record to state that the film is absolutely fine for kids "and anyone who doesn't like that can go right to hell." So... there's that.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Possibly the biggest subversion of this trope in any medium.

* JerkassWoobie: Carol.