It used to be that movies for adults were the ones that courted controversy, with excessive violence or radical political views or whatever else. But these days it's always the kid's movies that get people up in arms. Last Christmas found Catholics protesting The Golden Compass, and now Where the Wild Things Are is being accused of scaring kids-- before it even gets released.
There's been rumors for months that Spike Jonze's adaptation of the children's book would be undergoing reshoots, and now one of the stars, Forest Whitaker, is talking about what all the fuss is about. He talked to MTV Movies and told them that he'd brought his own children to a screening, without trouble. “It was intense. They liked it, though. They enjoyed it.”
Whitaker goes on to talk about a reality of childhood that adults tend to forget or ignore-- it gets scary out there. “[The dark scenes] are the point of the movie, and I hope that they maintain that point, because I think children can identify with a character who is upset.”
It's hard to say if high-profile supporters like Whitaker or his co-stars can keep Wild Things from undergoing reshoots, which many are assuming will cut out the scarier and more artistic aspects of the film. Sendak's book is such a classic, though, that it seems unwise to mess with the vision from a director as wonderful and strange as Jonze. When I was a kid my dad would tease me when he read me stories by changing certain lines or skipping parts of the stories, and I was always onto him. I know the generations of kids who loved Where The Wild Things Are would be just as disappointed to see parts of the story changed. Not to mention all the movie fans who will be deprived of what seems to be an amazing vision.
