I've seen it criticized as being a little too emo. And I agree, it did get a titch mawkish and slightly halty towards the middle.
But my answer to that is, why do "childrens' movies" have to be all cutesy-goofy-light? You want that, pull out a video of the Purple Slug or My Little Pony. This is a faerie tale.
They didn't have the Sea Serpent Wild Thing. But that was the only book element that they didn't have, everything else was there, and then some.
Things I liked:
The Wild Things were INCREDIBLE. And I daresay, they were better than the Skeksis and the UrRu from
Dark Crystal. Yes. They looked like whole, living things, not CG-enhanced costume/puppets. Their range of emotion was on a par with the rubber-suit Ninja Turtles. Henson & Associates made them LIVE. Go see the movie if only for that, the Wild Things by themselves were worth the price of admission.
Loved KW (Tzippy in the opera — the red-haired/duck-footed Wild Thing). She was easily the best-played Wild Thing. And definitely the most mature of the Wild Things. They played her up as very Earth Motherly. She does the other signature line ("Oh please don't go/We'll eat you up — we love you so") and it's a heart-wrencher.
Carol (I keep thinking of him as "Moishe," his name in the WTWTA opera) was the most complex character. He kicked it over the top; don't go by the photos, he's a lot more psycho than those big lugubrious eyes suggest. The other Wild Things were scared of him.
Max: Watch Max Records. No, let me repeat myself, with more emphasis:
WATCH MAX RECORDS. That kid's got more acting talent in his thumbs than Michael Bay would have if he cloned himself ten times over and reincarnated the lot a hundred times in succession. This is not the last we're ever gonna see of Max Records, he. Is. A. Gem. He has the best lines in the film, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he ad-libbed some of them. When he delivered "Let the Wild Rumpus START!!!", he blew the roof off! It was the story's signature line and
he was up to it. See the movie for the Wild Things, and that line.
Judith, the lion-rhino Wild Thing. Oh, God, what a b****!! Definitely of the Crone archetype. I can totally visualize her chanting over and stirring a cauldron of slimy black potion with the occasional body part floating to the surface — then feeding it to Max. I'll bet there used to be hundreds of Wild Things and she killed and ate them down to the seven that's there.
Things I didn't like:
The cockatoo Wild Thing, "Douglas" (Emil in the opera). Oh, the performance was fine. But his eyes were too small, and he didn't have ears in the book. It looked like they spent all the budget on the other Wild Things and just tossed him together at the last minute.
The exclusion of the Sea Serpent Wild Thing. Then again, maybe Judith caught and ate it.
Audience report:
They held it in the biggest theatre in the 'plex, and it was almost completely filled. Two people came dressed as Max. Most of the audience were late teens/early twenties college kids, happy, psyched, and not at all uncomfortable about being seen in an "only PG" movie. They were cranked for the film, and judging from the number of people who stuck around for the creds and howled at the end of the movie, they had a blast. I heard lots of rollicking, seriously funny laughter all around me throughout the film. They loved Max.
It was a midnight show so that tells you something right there: these were lifelong WTWTA fans, they all grew up with the book and were psyched to see it finally on the silver screen. Great crowd to be in.
And yes, I'm going to see it again. Maybe Tuesday night, after work. There's a lot in this film and I'm more than sure I'll see stuff I missed first time around.
I loved this book when I was younger. I had actually seen an ad in a magazine and I freaked. I'm seriously going to have to go see the movie the day it comes out. Thanks for reminding me that this existed! 
