This movie was very good. The cinematography was gorgeous, the acting was excellent. The voice talents? That list was epic. I cannot believe the cast Spike Jonze pulled together. Mark Ruffalo has two lines, tops. TWO. That’s absurd. I love it. And the effects might have been some of the best I have ever seen. Seriously, I could not have imagined they’d look that good.

That being said, I understand all the negative reviews, and I will tell you why. This movie, and this story, touch on a very large number of extremely dark themes concerning family, imagination, etc. But by touch on, I mean it’s obvious that they could explore it and don’t. But what should be equally obvious is that they can’t. It’s a children’s story. No child is ever going to follow a story with the exploration of any of those themes. The best you can hope for is the following moral: No matter how at home a place may seem, no matter how good things can be, every family has their troubles, and so you are best off making your way back home. That’s the point of the entire story. It can’t afford to delve into the myriad other lessons it admits. Yikes, I’ll stick with pretentious sentences for 400.

As an adult, as a moviegoer, I can say that this movie left me wanting a little more. But, I am smart enough to know that I can’t have it. The story is perfectly executed. In the words of a friend, “I’m really happy this movie didn’t kill a part of my childhood”. Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers turned a 10-sentence story into a wonderfully rich full-length. Karen O’s voice, while extremely annoying, was surprisingly fitting to the score (she co-wrote the score while her band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, was busy destroying the notion of decent music). And I have to mention Spike Jonze’s filming style. Very well-constructed while being refreshingly haphazard. It looked like a kid would have shot it, but a kid who knows an absurd amount about composition and fluency.

A word to the wise: don’t take your children. This movie, though it is based on a children’s story, is not a children’s movie. I never thought I’d use the phrase “hard PG”, but that’s what this is. I honestly would not have been opposed to a PG-13 rating. The target audience is really college-age and above, people who’ve not only read the story, but are also old enough to understand a fantasy when they see one.

One-line review: A kid’s movie for adults, not kids. Dark and endearing.

Consensus: 78/100