It is said that a baby rattlesnake is actually more dangerous than an adult because it carries just as much venom as its adult counterpart, but it cannot control the amount of poison delivered in a bite.

We humans have the same problem. Our children are equipped with the same powerful emotions adults have to wrestle with. They're just not as equipped to deal with them. This is the underlying theme of the brilliant and complex meditation on childhood delivered in the film "Where the Wild Things Are."

Based on the beloved children's book by Maurice Sendak, "Where the Wild Things Are" tells the story of an unruly young boy named Max (played by the conveniently named Max Records), who after getting in trouble for sassing his mother (Catherine Keener), runs off to a land of large, strange beasts who make Max their king.

The book didn't exactly scream for a movie adaptation as it featured less than a dozen sentences and was most compelling thanks to the mood created by Sendak's beautiful and gripping illustrations.

So how do you make an hour-and-a-half movie out of a book that takes about two minutes to read? You get Spike Jonze to direct it, that's how.

Jonze is the independent film director behind exceptional, head-trippy movies like "Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich." Jonze fleshed out the book with a screenplay co-written by award-winning author Dave Eggers and brought the Wild Things to life with an assist from Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

It's at this point that I should mention that in spite of its pedigree, this is not a kids' movie - at least not in the traditional sense. This is not to say that you should be hesitant to take your family, as there is nothing any more objectionable or frightening on screen than there was in Sendak's book.

It's just that younger kids are likely to be bored or confused as there is no simple conflict and resolution or a tidy moral to be passed along. This is more of a movie about kids than it is a movie for kids.

In many ways with its musings on life's bigger questions, "Where the Wild Things Are" has more in common with the comic strips "Peanuts" or "Calvin and Hobbes" than it does with "Finding Nemo."

When Max comes upon these huge creatures (brought to life through a seamless melding of puppetry and computer animation) they seem to represent the random and uncontrollable emotions that bubble inside Max.

The Wild Things are voiced by an all-star cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Catherine O'Hara and Paul Dano, but it is the monster named Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini) who forms the closest bond with Max. The motivations and relationships of the creatures are fluid at best and it is from this ambiguity that the film's tension is derived.

What stands out most though is the performance of Records, who carries his very first film on his back. So soulful and wide-ranging is his performance that if they still gave the Juvenile Academy Award, this year's Oscar would be locked up.

During Max's reign as king, trees are knocked over, games of war are played and a fort to rival any boyhood fantasy is constructed. There is a healthy sense of wonder that brings a feeling of joy to this movie, but it is tempered by the anxiety surrounding the constant mood swings of the Wild Things from playful to cruel to jealous to angry to alienated.

"Where the Wild Things Are" is challenging and insightful, which are not two adjectives usually associated with the phrase "block-buster family movie." But while its box-office fate is yet to be determined, I have nothing but praise for this visually stunning, emotionally complex film.

As adults, it is easy to think of children as carefree and innocent, while at the same time forgetting that our own childhood was fraught with worry and doubt as we tried to come to grips with the confusing and often frightening world we found ourselves living in.

It is impressive then that a movie about a young boy rumpusing with big, hairy monsters has the power to remind us of all those feelings. Impressive indeed.

"Where the Wild Things Are" is rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language.