It felt as if the  children’s book “Where the Wild Things  Are” breif ten sentence story never had enough content to be made into a full length movie.

Spike Jonze’s feature film adaptation of the classic  book drags on borringly throughout its already brief 92 minute running time.

Much of the plot feels like it adds nothing to the moral of the story.

That being said, those who grew up as fans of the book should give it a chance.

 The film “Where the Wild Things Are” is a  of a mischievous young boy, Max, who is sent to bed without supper after he throws a tantrum and bites his mother. Max escapes his family frustrations  when his imagination transports him to a different world, an island inhabited by emotional monsters known as “wild things,” where he is made king.

Jonze fills in the blanks left in between the book’s brief narrative. 

The plot is filled with an emotional drama that deals with what it means to be a family and the confusion that comes with growing up. But, despite a strong thematic storyline, the movie is slow and takes too long to develop and at times feels like the character progression is running in circles.

Visuals are a major strong point of the movie, the wide artistic shots of the island are visually exciting. Not to mention that the images of the wild things themselves, who are giant puppets with computer animated facial features, are depicted totally faithfully to the wild things in the book.

On the surface its targeted audience may seem to be children, but the complex underlying emotional themes and sometimes savage portrayal of the wild things makes it appeal to adults as much to kids.