Being a prolific music video or commercial director usually means that you have a great feel for eye popping visuals, but often times their endeavors in feature film making are all style and no substance. That criticism can hardly be applied to Spike Jonze. Maverick is a better term to describe this ex-skateboard photographer turned director by way of hundreds of TV commercials and music videos. His prior two films, “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation,” were stylistic gems that relied heavily on their pristine Charlie Kaufman scripts. His new feature, “Where the Wild Things Are,” is pure Spike Jonze and is all heart, a rare thing from someone who came from a world overwrought with shallow consumerism.

“Wild Things” marks the first feature of which Jonze had a hand in writing. Co-Written by author Dave Eggers, and based on the beloved children’s book by Maurice Sendak, the script departs liberally from the source material. The set up is the same, Max (Max Records), a precocious youngster acts out at home and is sent to his room without dinner, only to escape to a magical world to become the King of the Wild Things. However Jonze takes Sendak’s simple and unique vision, adds layers upon layers of depth, and winds up with his own story.