Where The Wild Things Are Movie

Childhood is magical and difficult in director Spike Jonze's imaginative adaptation of the Maurice Sendak classic. The film's expanded narrative swings deftly between Max (Max Records) acting out and Max figuring it out ("it" being life, of course). As the ruler of the beautifully rendered, very bizarre beasts of his kingdom, Records has all the exasperating charm of a bright, energetic and angry young boy, as do the rangy beasts, particularly James Gandolfini as Carol, who rages about a lot like Max did back home.

Something HAS gone very wrong with "Where the Wild Things Are," the much-anticipated Spike Jonze adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book. The $80-million film, with a script by literary cool guy Dave Eggers, was filmed largely in the second half of 2006 in Australia. It was originally slated for release this October but got pushed back to the fall of 2009. Last week it disappeared entirely from the Warner Bros. release schedule, a sign of continuing troubles.