Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 American fantasy drama film directed by Spike Jonze. Written by Jonze and Dave Eggers, it is adapted from Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book of the same name. It combines live-action, performers in costumes, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery (CGI). The film centers on a lonely eight-year-old boy named Max who sails away to an island inhabited by creatures known as the "Wild Things," who declare Max their king.
Max
- Let the wild rumpus start!
Dialogue
- Max: Did you make this?
- Carol: Yeah, yeah.
- Max: It's very good.
- Carol: We were gonna make a whole world like this. Now, everyone used to come here, but you know... you know what it feels like when all your teeth are falling out really slowly and you don't realize and then you notice that, well, they're really far apart. And then one day... you don't have any teeth anymore.
- Max: Yeah.
- Carol: Well it was like that.
[Max drags a chair to the counter. He sniffs the food in the kitchen. His mom takes the ovenmit off to tell him to be quiet.]
- Mom: Hey. Ssh!
[Max sits on the chair.]
- Max: Mom, what is that?
- Mom: It's pâté.
[Picks up frozen corn]
- Max: Frozen corn? What's wrong with real corn?
- Mom: Frozen corn is real. All right, now get off the chair, please. Go tell your sister to clear her stuff off the table.
[Max shouts real loud, more in his mom's face.]
- Max: CLAIRE, GET YER STUFF OFF THE DINING ROOM TABLE!
- Mom: Max, don't ever pull that now.
[Max stands on the countertop.]
- Mom: Um, Max? Get off the counter, please. Get off. I have a friend here. You're embarrasing me!
- Max: WOMAN, FEED ME!
[Mom covers her eyes, she is not happy.]
- Mom: Max, get off the counter. Please get off the counter. Get off the damn counter, Max. Now! Now!
- Max: I'LL EAT YOU UP!
- Mom: GET DOWN!
- Max: GRRRRR!
- Mom: Get off from there!
[Steps off the counter]
Taglines
- There's one in all of us.
- Inside all of us is... hope. Inside all of us is... fear. Inside all of us is... adventure. Inside all of us is a wild thing.
- Let the wild rumpus start!
- I could eat you up, I love you so.
Cast
- Max Records as Max, a lonely eight-year-old boy with a wild imagination.
- Catherine Keener as Connie, Max's mother.
- Mark Ruffalo as Adrian, Connie's boyfriend.
- Pepita Emmerichs as Claire, Max's sister.
- Steve Mouzakis as Max's teacher.
- Max Pfeifer, Madeleine Greaves, Joshua Jay, and Ryan Corr as Claire's friends.
Voices
- James Gandolfini as Carol, an impulsive Wild Thing.
- Lauren Ambrose as K.W., the loner of the group.
- Chris Cooper as Douglas, a cockatoo-like peace-keeper who is Carol's best friend.
- Forest Whitaker as Ira, a gentle, soft-spoken Wild Thing.
- Catherine O'Hara as Judith, a Triceratops-like horned Wild Thing, who is Ira's loud, aggressive girlfriend.
- Paul Dano as Alexander, a goat-like Wild Thing who is constantly ignored, belittled and mistreated.
- Michael Berry Jr. as Bernard the Bull, a quiet, intimidating bull-headed Wild Thing who keeps to himself and rarely speaks.
- Spike Jonze as Bob and Terry, two owls, and K.W's friends.
Suit performers
- Vincent Crowley as Carol
- Alice Parkinson as K.W.
- John Leary as Douglas
- Sam Longley as Ira
- Nick Farnell as Judith
- Sonny Gerasimowicz as Alexander
- Angus Sampson as Bernard the Bull