Where the Wild Things Are Pols of "Time" magazine wrote that "[w]hat makes Sendak's book so compelling is its grounding effect: Max has a tantrum and in a flight of fancy visits his wild side, but he is pulled back by a belief in parental love to a supper 'still hot,' balancing the seesaw of fear and comfort." "New York Times" film critic Manohla Dargis noted that "there are different ways to read the wild things, through a Freudian or colonialist prism, and probably as many ways to ruin this delicate story of a solitary child liberated by his imagination." In Selma G. Lanes's book
Where the Wild Things Are (video game) or get to do, is pull the same trigger over and over." Schiesel added that "nothing in the writing, the story, the gameplay or the world design lends any depth to their characters or the environment around them." GameDaily's Robert Workman called the PlayStation 3 version "a breezy little adventure. However, it only lasts a few hours, and once it's over, all that's left for you to do is hang around the "Wild Things"' village." He praised the audio with its musical cues and "terrific" voice acting. Workman sums it up by stating that the title "doesn't earn a strong