Born to be ‘Wild’

You know it, and you love it. Maurice Sendak’s allegorical 1963 picture book Where the Wild Things Are is simply one of the most celebrated children’s books of all time. But it is having Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze helm the project and indie-approved novelist and The Believer publisher Dave Eggers lovingly write the screenplay that is the true masterstroke here. Jonze makes his first feature film since 2002’s underrated Adaptation really count with a heartfelt and daring look at Sendak’s evocative story of misunderstanding and anger, and above all, the sometimes thrilling, sometimes frightening adventure called youth. The story remains intact—little Max is sent to bed without supper then goes on a mystical journey to a land filled with wild creatures who crown him king—but the details Eggers adds with the author’s approval playfully expand the original tale’s scant verbage into something even grander than Sendak originally envisioned. Max Records, Katherine Keener and Mark Ruffalo star, with Forest Whitaker, Catherine O’Hara lending their voices to the Wild Things. Rated PG.