‘Where the Wild Things Are’

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. One of the film’s remarkable feats is to let you inside Max so completely you feel as if you are experiencing his world, whether at home or the magical forest, as he does. It lets you remember the notion, if not the reality, of childhood, with all that must be conquered once again.

-- Betsy Sharkey