Actually significantly better than I'd expected. The book wasn't actually a particularly large part of my childhood, but I was aware of this film a long way out because of the people who were attached to it and the initial promise that it could be something genuinely dark. But my expectations fell dramatically after hearing that it had been de-fanged to make it more palatable for children, so it was a very pleasant discovery to find that there is, in fact, a genuine wildness to the finished version. The sets and images are of the kind that is often used to evoke childhood imaginings - detailed and naturalistic sweep mixed with some surprisingly (and deliberately) rough edges. The wild things themselves are convincing, and genuinely menacing when required; overall, I think the film is a missed opportunity, but really not too bad.
(w/ M)
