Some quick opinionating on WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

To put things in historical context, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is probably the first major-studio children's/family film with a tres hipster pedigree since 1980's POPEYE--a collaboration involving director Robert Altman, writer Jules Feiffer and singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson.

And, at its best, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is a much more watchable, harmonious blend of the sensibilities of director Spike Jonze and co-scenarist Dave Eggers (WILD THINGS, like the Eggers/Vendela Vida/Sam Mendes AWAY WE GO, has the same finding-your-place-in-the-world throughline) than the collective efforts of POPEYE's creative braintrust.

One fears, though, that the starts-out-frenetic-ends-up-thoughtful tone of WILD THINGS may be too subtle and offputting for mass audiences from its second weekend in theaters onwards.

(It's easy to imagine that Jonze got a lot of Warner Bros. development notes pleading for him to dub in some fart noises when young Max and all the creatures collapse into a big pile before going to sleep at night.)