Two Thumbs Way Down

I just took all of my kids to go see what I thought was going to be a great, fun, creative kids' movie about a little boy with a lot of imagination. But Where the Wild Things Are was none of those things. I am seriously ticked at myself that I didn't do a little more research first - and ended up waisting my money and time - while I tried to keep my kids entertained during an incredibly depressing and boring movie that was NOT meant for kids.
I think of Maurice Sendak's famous book as being about an imaginitive, and a little unruly, boy who creates an intriguing alternate reality for himself as an escape. In the movie - the boy is an odd kid with lots of issues, who runs away from home after throwing a tantrum that included him biting his mom. His running ends when he stumbles upon an island of monsters who he convinces not to eat him. The boy spends the rest of the movie discovering that these depressed, angry, and shallow creatures live just as sad and crappy a life as he does - so he ends up going back home.
It was glacier paced, and dark. Not uplifting, interesting, inspiring or entertaining in the slightest. My girls were scared, Calvin was rolling around in the aisle - but stopped long enough to mimic some of the main character's extremely loud tantrums, the baby woke up crying towards the end. I really wanted to pack up the whole crew and leave halfway through --- but I kept thinking that the movie would get better when the boy returned home - and that the ending would save it. I was wrong. No further exploration of that part of the story than his mom giving him a hug and watching him eat a bowl of soup.
That's two hours I will never get back. Spare yourself the boredom, and keep your money. So not worth it!!!