These Boys know Boys
One of the screenwriters, Dave Eggars, became famous years ago for penning the fantastic true story "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius". When his parents both died within months of each other of cancer, he was still a child in highschool himself and left to be the 'responsible' caretaker of his little brother. They grew together as brothers, but Dave also spent a lot of time recording real life conversations between them that are as real as it gets. I feel much of the dialogue that came from adapting Maurice Sendak's very simple little book, was pulled from the mouths of babes. And because of its authenticity, they were able to faithfully take a beloved childhood story and bring it to life without sounding contrived or overly cute or filling the blanks with fart jokes for lack of any other ideas. I knew it was a winner when I heard all the other kids in the theater giggling uncontrollably at things I didn't think were THAT funny. But this is a movie for them, and they got it.