When adapting a 48-page children's book that's mostly illustrations into a feature length movie, some liberties must be taken. Director Spike Jonze is the guy who took extensive liberties with Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, turning it inside out and coming up with the brilliant Adaptation, so he knows how to bend pages.

Yet after Jonze released a trailer for his version of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, some devotees of the book have been howling. Even in such truncated condition, it's easy to assume that Jonze's idea of wild is odder than Sendak's. You can find the
Sendak/Jonze video by clicking this YouTube link

Hoping to soothe the savage breasts of Sendak faithful, Jonze has now released the featurette posted above, with Sendak giving his personal blessing to the director's vision. Is it sincere, or another case of an author surrendering to Hollywood's hype habits, as Anne Rice did with her half-hearted and transparent endorsement of Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire?

Judge for yourself.

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