The book is just 339 words long, but in turning it into a feature-length movie, director Spike Jonze has expanded the story with a breathtaking visual scheme and stirring emotional impact. What keeps the film from reaching complete excellence is the thinness of the script, which Jonze co-wrote with Dave Eggers. The beloved and award-winning children’s book by Maurice Sendak still holds up beautifully today because it shows keen insight into the conflicted nature of children. “Where the Wild Things Are” remains lovingly faithful to the look and spirit of the book but functions assuredly as its own entity. At its center is Max, played by 12-year-old Max Records, a lonely, misunderstood kid who runs off to a magical land where the wild things make him their king.