By Katie Saltz and Roy York

Let the wild rumpus start.

More than 45 years since the tale first graced our bookshelves, Warner Brother’s Pictures hopes to reignite that “wild thing” that lives inside us all.

“Where the Wild Things Are,” the classic children’s book written by Maurice Sendak, has been transformed into a film to be released Friday and introduces a new generation to the story of a little boy in a wolf suit who becomes king of the wild things.

The plot revolves around Max, a child who does all of the things he shouldn’t, such as chasing the dog around the house with a fork. When his mother sends him to his room with no supper, Max’s imagination sends him to a place where he can be as wild as he pleases.

Max ascends to his place as king of the lovable yet monstrous creatures in the fantasy world, but the smell of supper yanks him back to reality. He realizes while he is having fun creating a “wild rumpus” with the wild things, he wants to be “where someone loved him best of all.”

While the book has been a bedtime standard for generations of children, integrated strategic communications senior Ashley Bell said she thinks the movie will not only draw in a younger crowd, but a generation of young adults who hold fond memories of the book.

“I think (the movie) is more for us than it is for 8-year-olds right now,” Bell said. “Kids now have Harry Potter and video games, but I had books read to me every single night before bed.”

The revival of the children’s book has led some to wonder if the next generation of bedtime story readers will continue to inspire creativity with stories like “Wild Things,” or if imaginative storytelling will fall to the wayside in favor of television shows and video games.

Jordan Bratcher, a chemistry freshman, remembers reading the book in grade school. Bratcher said kids need stories like the ones Max imagines in the book to inspire creativity instead of having plots and characters prepackaged and presented in a certain light.

“In video games, storylines are given to you. There’s not a lot of imagination,” Bratcher said. “I didn’t play a lot of video games and I guess that’s why my imagination runs free sometimes.”

Jamie Wetherall, an integrated strategic communications senior, said she had forgotten about the beloved children’s book until she saw the preview for the movie. Then the memories came creeping back.

“When I first saw the preview I didn’t put it together until my boyfriend mentioned the book, then I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I loved that,’ ” Wetherall said. “I remembered the little boy in the closet and the huge monsters. I really remember the coloring.”

The book won the 1964 Caldecott Medal for being the most distinguished picture book of the year. Sendak’s illustrations are not the brightly-colored and exaggerated cartoon features traditionally seen in children’s literature. Instead he used muted colors and darker scenes to tackle the theme of stormy emotions in children’s books, a rarity when “Wild Things” was written.

Art studio junior Mara Kesterson said those morose emotions were clear to her even as a child.

“I was scared of that book as a kid,” she said with a laugh.

Kesterson said Sendak’s choice of artwork for the book was subtle, but definitely made a difference in how children responded to the story.

“(The art) makes you look at things differently when you’re a kid because children’s books are usually bright and happy,” she said. “This book was more real-world.”