‘Where the Wild Things Are’ taps imagination, emotions

At times depressing and uplifting, but always visually captivating, “Where the Wild Things Are” is a strange and wonderful oxymoron. It is a movie about a kid, yet it refuses to bow to the normal conventions of a kid’s movie. There are no pop-culture references or tired flatulence jokes, no colorful animation or a quest for a magical pendant. Instead, we have what proves to be a virtually plotless foray into the imagination of an energetic but scared little boy-and that suits this movie just fine.