What made Where The Wild Things Are a lasting piece of literature, as potent the first time you heard it at 7 years old as it is now at 25 or 35, is that it tells as much in between the pages as it does on them.

As a child the book ignited your imagination. It touched that explosive hive of nerves that could turn a train ride into an intergalactic mission. It was a book that felt written by a fellow explorer, rather than an adult – a person who had been on hundreds of wild journeys and returned with great tales to share.

As an adult the book is precious for more than nostalgia. It affords you a valuable retrospective of childhood – the good and bad.

It is a great credit to the film then that both child and adult are considered. Writer/director Spike Jonze, with fellow writer Dave Eggers, have gone to great lengths to reach the children and the child in us all.

While Pixar and co. have made quite a bit of milk money from this trade (entertaining adults and kids alike), Where The Wild Things Are takes a completely different route to a similar destination – a darker and more complex, but still entirely magical, route.

There’s no doubt the film is a pleasure to watch, from the subtle expressions and gestures of the wild things and the savage Victorian landscape (the film was shot in Gisborne, Werribee and Bushrangers bay) right down to the expert use of natural light (kudos to cinematographer Lance Acord who also worked with Jonze on Being John Malcovich and Adaptation). Even the soundtrack felt as though it had been lifted from the book. But more than all this, the film boasts a rare type of screenplay.

Jonze and Eggers contemplate the space between the words of Maurice Sendak and uncover the most precious story waiting there. Not for a moment does the narrative feel stuffed or forced into the air around the original story, which at around 40 pages and just over a hundred words leaves plenty of room for interpretation, the right and wrong kind. Thankfully this film is full of the right kind. It’s sophisticated in its approach to childhood loneliness and isolation – feelings of frustration and invisibility that at 5 years old right through to 19 are almost impossible to express with any maturity. And it’s this battle for attention, love and understanding with the world outside that takes centre stage.

Some critics and viewers overseas have unfairly labelled the film inappropriate for young children. Kids, like the grown up viewers, will decide from themselves how much beyond the magic they want to explore. The film trades in pushing basic values (a la classic kids animation) for notions of self-reflection and introspection. It’s not often a film speaks directly and respectfully to kids, for this fact alone, parents should encourage theirs to see it.

Some may scoff at Jonze’s “hipster” touches (the Karen O soundtrack and the film’s sometimes “too cool” aesthetic) though these viewers may soon find their hearts melted.

While a brilliant homage to the book, the film is a success in its own right. Those who have never read the book will enjoy it, even most simply, as a magical journey through a child’s imagination. Those who want to surrender themselves to the onion rings can peel back layer after layer of metaphor and uncover much intellectual fodder.

Where The Wild Things Are is in cinemas December 3rd.
You can watch the Where The Wild Things Are movie trailer here on TheVine.