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 Were the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking third on its timeslot and sixth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind "Dr. Ken", "Dateline NBC", "Last Man Standing", "Truth and Lies: The Family Manson", and an NCAA Tournament. This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 3.95 million viewers with a 0.7/3. This means that 0.7 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 3 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it. "Where the Wild Things Were" received positive reviews. Les Chappell from The