"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE" IS A SENSITIVE FILM INTENDED FOR PARENTS
The previews for "Where the Wild Things Are" make it look like a kid movie full of special effects with Muppet-style critters jumping around in the woods.

"Where the Wild Things Are" isn't at all like that. For one thing, the director and co-writer is Spike Jonze. That tells you something right there.

The other co-writer is Dave Eggers, who may not be as well known but who believes in the philosophical and mythological significance of comic books. That tells you something else right there.

Forget the 10-sentence story by Maurice Sendak, also called "Where the Wild Things Are." He did the original illustrations on which the movie's fantasy figures are based, as well.

I've never seen the book for children, but a key line in the movie is spoken by one of these large and distressed creatures, "It's hard being a family."

These sad beings aren't really monsters, but they are huge and they have sharply pointed teeth. They are strong enough to grab up and eat as many children as they like, any time they like. But they never do.

These monsters are too sensitive, too depressed, too caught caught up in their own adult emotions (from  a child's point of view) to effectively use their size and strength (once again, from a child's point of view).

All of which makes watching "Where the Wild Things Are" seem that much more compelling (from a concerned parent's point of view).

We can only hope many parents will see this wonderful film first, without the young ones along, and appreciate what Jonze and Eggers have done to project the personalities of today's stressed parents onto these larger than king-sized characters.

Though all these despondent giants have large, calm voices with modern intonation, they argue among themselves and jump around, pull trees out of the ground by the roots and complain about personal slights both real and imagined. Basically , they are monsters who have been emasculated by their own personalities.

Imagine the situation of a little kid, like 9-year-old Max Records, who plays Max the hyperactive youngster desperate for some strong leadership. Max looks to his divorced mom, the convincingly worried Catherine Keener, for strength but she's too concerned about being sensitive to her kid while also staying sexy for her new boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo).

Nobody is more desperate than a divorced woman with a couple of children, a body that keeps getting fatter no matter what, and a stretched-out conscience that won't let her new boyfriend become more important than her biological family.