What a magical movie this is. Hardly a surprise, considering the pedigree of the people involved (the director of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation.), but it's a rare things when a literary masterpiece the likes of this is adapted in such a way that nothing is dumbed down or cut through corners. Going above and beyond its source material, Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are is as fantastically entertaining as it is moody and emotionally draining, the results of the director's unrelenting vision of a boy dealing with his inner demons in the company of some bigger ones.

I hardly need to relay the story, but I'll do it anyway. Max is a precocious, imaginative and needy young boy growing up with a sister growing away from him and a single mother (Keener) trying to grow back into the dating world. One night, after feeling betrayed by both of the women in his life, Max flees the house, races through the neighborhood to a shoreline, finds a conveniently placed rowboat and sets off. This, however, is where the narrative comes into its own. Max finds one of the Wild Things, Carol (James Gandolfini), arguing with the rest and decimating his own village. Max seizes the opportunity (and saves himself from consumption) by proclaiming himself to be their king with magical powers that will restore harmony to the group and clear away all the "sadness". He leads them in a "wild rumpus" and, inspired by Carol's own miniature model of his ideal island, decides to build a giant fort capable of any project they want ("it will have a big swimming pool with a trampoline on the bottom"). For awhile it's looking good and Max grows close to Carol, but when KW (Lauren Ambrose) tries to include her owl friends Bob and Terry into the group, Carol gets upset and brings everyone down. Max tries to organize a "dirt-clod fight" to unite everyone, but another of the Wild Things (Paul Dano) actually gets hurt, causing more arguments and eventually bringing about Max's fall from the throne. His lack of powers severely hurts his relationship with Carol, who starts to get dangerous and scary (shouting the famous line, "I'll eat you up!) and who even rips off the arm of his right-hand man (Chris Cooper) for talking back to him. Max then has to decide whether to stay and straighten things out, or sail back to his mother and his supper "still hot".

I found many parallels between this film and The Wizard of Oz, the greatest fantasy film of all-time. However, it was told as if from the point-of-view of the Wizard, not Dorothy. The rowboat carries Max to the island, much like the hot air balloon, where he is greeted in awe by characters largely in need of leadership. In this way the Wild Things become very dangerous Munchkins, and the way Carol doesn't exactly get to say good-bye to Max is very reminiscent of Dorothy's frantic pleadings for the Wizard to "come back! come back!" Also, they both feature characters in the new reality that resemble those of the previous one, although with Max's friends they are more Freudian personifications of his own psyche than fun-loving versions of his friends. KW is an amalgamation of Max's mother and sister (complete with friends that Max can't understand but KW likes and wants them all to welcome), and Carol is Max's more child-like facets (he can be alternately constructive or destructive, but is always very jealous and defiant of blame). The others must translate as well, but I feel it would take another article just for that.

For now, I'll just say that the production value is so impressive. Spike Jonze knew exactly what he was doing every step of the way and refused to compromise, both in the script (the dialogue is full of absurdities and little kid logic: "what if cracks open up? then I have a re-cracker that goes right through it!") and in his spellbinding direction. The use of CGI, live-action, suitmation and animatronics made it almost hard to tell whether the Wild Things were alive or not. There was such a bewitching power behind each element, from the very big and sudden (Max and Carol see a giant dog in the background) to the small and subtle (Carol's wet nose sparkling in the firelight). The aptly-named Max Records plays the difficult role of the boy, seeming alternately playful and immature, but never bratty. Catherine Keener is moving as the patient mother trying to juggle her family and her new boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo, in a small part; interestingly enough, Records played the younger version of Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom, so Max is basically jealous of his older self!). And of course, the voice cast is astounding. Catherine O'Hara (The Nightmare Before Christmas) is the only one with much experience in this style of acting, but the rest perform very admirably (particularly Gandolfini, using the more juvenile aspects of his character on The Sopranos but still moving away from that genre).

A lot of critics have denounced the film as much too dark for most children, which I partially agree with (if only for Carol gnashing his teeth in his sleep). But both Jonze and Sendak have been unapologetic in their publicity statements, with Sendak telling those parents who dislike it to "go to hell". Personally I'm proud of them and Warner Bros. (who delayed the film a year so that Jonze would have enough money to put his creative conception onto the screen perfectly) for sticking to their guns and not scrapping the project entirely, like many thought they would. I also think it's even better than I expected it to be; as long as you don't go into it thinking it'll be another Who Framed Roger Rabbit or something, you'll love it. I award Where the Wild Things Are a much-deserved 4 1/2 stars; by never knuckling under the pressure, Spike Jonze has created a sumptuous masterpiece for the ages, and a fantasy world I will never forget.