I'll be honest, I just didn't get the point of this movie. I don't recall ever reading Maurice Sendak's source book and it was very difficult for me to care at all about the protagonist or any of the characters.Max (Max Roberts) is trying to cope with being a small, creative child with no friends. He wants to be included in his sister's (Pepita Emmerics) circle but can't hang with the older kids. He's upset his mother (Catherine Keener) is dating again but can't express his sadness and resentment other than by acting out with animalistic violence. In desperation, he runs away to an island populated by monsters who soon make him their king, but Max earns no respite from his anxieties. Carol (James Gandolfini) also has explosive, violent tempers, Judith (Catherine O'Hara) is an acid-tongued bully, and the others would totally be okay with eating Max given half a chance.
I'm sure there was some kind of lesson here about learning to move on and stop trying to find magical solutions to your self-centered problems, but I could not get past what a total brat Max is. His constant screaming and howling were irritating beyond belief and not even some top-notch CGI and pitch-perfect voice casting could overcome that. Like, that kid needed fucking therapy.
It didn't help that the sound of the movie was totally scattershot. The dialogue was incredibly quiet but the music was super loud so I was constantly fiddling with the volume. The whole experience was just not worth the hassle.
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