Mitch Journals

Parents may have fond memories of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, “Where the Wild Things Are.” But if their social-networking postings are any indication, some are not pleased with the movie.

“It was joyless. There were maybe 15 minutes of the hour and a half that my kids were into it,” said James Griffioen of Detroit, Michigan.

His 4-year-old daughter asked, “Why is this movie so sad?” in the middle of their family’s matinee viewing, while his son, a 20-month-old who normally can’t get enough of the 1963 children’s classic, was simply bored, he told CNN.

Movie critics were, on the whole, approving of the PG-rated film, though the poor reviews were particularly scathing. “I have a vision of 8-year-olds leaving the movie in bewilderment. Why are the creatures so unhappy?” wrote The New Yorker’s David Denby. The heavily publicized film, which opened in theaters last Friday and debuted on top of the weekend box office, seemed to do too much, said Griffioen. He thought much of the problem lay in the script, by director Spike Jonze and author Dave Eggers, which expanded on the 10-sentence children’s book.