Yesterday, I took my children to see the new movie by Maurice Sendak, Where the wild things are. It was an interesting movie, but in similar style to the book it was not much dialogue. I felt that the movie was slow moving but left room for after thought.

It began with the young boy in movie troubled and confused. He had some anger issues, which made for good discussion later with my 8 and 10 yr old about what is and is not acceptable behavior. Once he arrives at the place where the wild things are, he meets these creatures. I certainly would not recommend viewing this movie with kids under the age of 7, because those creatures are kinda creepy! But It is adapted from the great illustrator Maurice Sendak, so it is, what it is. The creativity in the costume designs were phenomenal in my opinion. I was giving side glances at my 8 yr old the whole time wondering if we were going to be sharing a bed that night. She was cool with it, however if she had been slightly younger I don't think it would have been cool. Also, the language of the characters was more mature than I cared for in a child movie, but these days it seems like every movie G, PG or PG13 has to slip in adult language.

All in all, I felt that the movie was a good draw for those of us with fond childhood memories of the storybook written over 30 yrs ago. But, without that connection I'm not sure that it is a total blockbuster for kids this year. Nice try though.