Where the Wild Things Are (video game) levels allow Max to traverse background and foreground layers of the stage. "Where the Wild Things Are" received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. While acknowledging its graphics and other elements as commendable, the majority of critics noted the game's lack of depth as a major pitfall. Seth Schiesel of "The New York Times" considered the Wii version "more than a little disappointing." He also noted that while it's "not a sloppy or slipshod game," "The combat in "Wild Things" could charitably be described as minimalist in that all you ever have to do,
Where the Wild Things Are Knussen, Sendak gave the monsters the names of his relatives: Tzippy, Moishe, Aaron, Emile, and Bernard. According to Sendak, at first, the book was banned in libraries and received negative reviews. It took about two years for librarians and teachers to realize that children were flocking to the book, checking it out over and over again, and for critics to relax their views. Since then, it has received high critical acclaim. Francis Spufford suggests that the book is "one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate and beautiful use of the psychoanalytic story of anger". Mary