I honestly thought it was spot on with the book.
An interesting thing to think about for anyone who actualy loved it as a kid and then saw it now, you were at a much different stage in your life. The story itself is actually kind of depressing. I think spike jonze caputured exactly what maurice sendak was going for in writing this. I believe that the reason Max travels to his world of wild things, to find such sadness and anger is a metaphor on the stage from being a child, into a young adult. I know max is only 11, so he might be a tad young for this to happen, but it does happen to everyone. You start to leave this childhood fantasy world little by little as you get older, until it's almost completly gone. The confusion in this stage causes much sadness and anger. I thought the metaphor was portrayed greatly.
For all that say they hated it because it was sad, then you obviously never truly loved that story.
This is the kind of movie that can only be made once, and Spike Jonzes did it wonderfully.
I will never forget the book or movie.
The boy that played max, (max records) was beyond perfect for the role.
I almost cried when his older sister's friends crushed his fort.
That is my thought on the movie.