Max

Character Analysis

Children can be impulsive, and Max is no exception. When we first see him, he's actively vandalizing his home, and when his mom calls him on it, he basically roars at her.

In other words, he's your typical 6 to 8-year-old sassy-pants kid.

This is one of the things we love about Max and identify with right away. After all, who doesn't remember making mischief, getting in trouble, and being frustrated enough to threaten a parent with cannibalism?

Childhood is a time of high emotion—it's a lot like a gothic novel that way. And Max's emotions definitely run high. We can see from the start that he's got some pent-up energy. (Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be chasing the dog around with a fork.) The problem is that he doesn't have a good outlet for it, and he makes some bad choices. (Like chasing the dog around with a fork.)

But that's par for the course when you're a wee one. The elementary school years are a time when many struggle with emotions and feeling out of control, and that can be scary. Like, say, an island of wild creatures running amok.

Yep, that's exactly what Max's emotions are like to him, and that's why he travels to the land of wild things to confront them. Of course, the journey is all in Max's head (or is it?), but it's still effective. Max acknowledges his wide-ranging emotions, lets them exhaust themselves in a safe environment, and manages to calm himself down so he can rejoin his household, have dinner, and apologize to the dog.

Will Max lose control of his emotions again? Probably. He's, like, 7 years old, give or take. But when we watch him navigate his way through this particular episode by taming the beasts within, we can see that he's growing up a little and making his way toward the next stage, adolescence...where he'll get to do it all over again.