Where the Wild Things Are (film): A bit more terrifying than the children's books

If you grew up in North America (or perhaps a lot of the rest of the world) "Where the Wild Things Are" was a ubiquitous children's book contained in nearly every doctor's office and most of your friends' homes. There was just something really incredible about the artwork and the story. The book wasn't exactly a Harry Potter anthology so it is understandable that they might experience some difficulty in making a 90 minute film out of it.

The story follows Max, a troubled little boy that appears to me to have some sort of behavioral issues. This actually kind of made me mad because I don't like misbehaving children and I don't really recall that being part of the original story in the kids' book. However, like I said, they needed to make this story longer and I guess this is part of it.

[source](https://images2.static-bluray.com/reviews/2528_1.jpg)

The "wild things" were huge in the storybook, and in the movie i think they did a good job of representing that. I loved the mix of live-action, animatronics, and also CGI. The wild things appeal real throughout and the computer generated stuff is not easily identified.

The movie is dark, and the main Wild Thing, named Carol (there must be some hidden reason why he has a lady's name) can be particularly frightening at times as he is prone to violent outbursts and is very strong. The character is wonderfully voiced by James Gandolfini in one of his final performances before his untimely death in 2013.

I found the movie to be quite dark and was not really what I was expecting based on what I remember from the kid's book, but perhaps that is a good thing. I found the movie to engage a wide range of emotions so that is also a good thing. Overall, this movie is not epic, but it is definitely worth seeing although I can't really say if i feel it is appropriate for kids (I don't have any.)

On a scale of "Urgh!" to "Wowsers!" I give Where the Wild Things Are a score of.....