• Release year: 2024
• Director: Carlos Saldanha.
• Producer: John Davis.
• Screenplay by: David Guion and Michael Handelman.
• Cinematography by: Gabriel Beristain.
• Music by: Batu Sener.

Shotgun Commentary: probably great fun for kids, adults will likely find it ridiculous. Somewhat funny, but mostly dull. Highly recommend you watch Inkheart (2008) instead.

Review

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a pretty average film with a very specific target audience. You know how lots of movies for children nowadays also have meaning for the parents and some subtle jokes that will keep them entertained? Yeah, this has none of that. It is probably a great film to put your kids in front of the TV and get about an hour and a half to focus on yourself.

If you are one of those involved parents who watch movies and shows with their kids, fair warning: you’ll be bored out of your mind. Don’t get me wrong, the feature isn’t bad per se, just incredibly simple, with lame humour and overused jokes. Some bits are entertaining, but it’s mostly going to feel like a waste of time if you are over ten.

What about the children?

The fact that the story is targeting children is no excuse for the humungous amount of nonsense it pulls. Not to mention the casually hidden consequences of Harold’s actions in real life. During his whimsical Enchanted-like (2007) passing through the real world, he creates deadly things that he immediately forgets about, such as a plane mid-flight or a giant fan. To this, one can add the worst landing in history, where three pairs of legs are miraculously not broken; food that must have turned into wax in the stomach of a kid; things drawn with the same crayon appearing purple or not without any criteria, etc.

The core of the problem is not that the film has no rules, that would be fantastic to encourage children’s imagination. The problem is that the story makes absolutely no sense within the rules that the narrative has established. Do things come out purple or not? Does everything turn back into wax trails or not? You won’t be able to answer these core questions because no one has bothered with coherence, making the end result sloppy and confusing.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Luckily, not everything is negative. The stand-off scene is quite fun and a great way to familiarise the kids with the western genre before you show them The Good The Bad and The Ugly (1966). Additionally, the character of Porcupine (Tanya Reynolds) is an absolute delight. She is strange and proud of it, following her instincts and getting into hilarious situations. Her tiny storyline is great, and Reynolds makes for a very compelling and believable porcupine.

Harold’s other sidekick is sadly the opposite. While Lil Rel Howery is very charming as Moose and delivers a likeable character, the writing is too simple. He is completely unidimensional and indistinguishable from all the other generic sidekicks that the cinema has bombarded us with for decades.

What the…?

The opposite happens with Terry (Zooey Deschanel), where a pretty average character seems like it’s being underplayed. There is a chance you may wonder whether Deschanel has had some surgery that prevents her from moving her face, but then you’ll realise that that is not it at all. The issue is that her character is not 100% quirky and smily. Instead, it is a very tired, slightly depressed mother, a character so foreign to Deschanel’s usual register that she has no idea how to portray her, resulting in a pretty static face during most of the film.

Her unmoving expression is heightened by Levy’s Harold, a man so hyped about life that he makes everyone else on screen completely disappear. Levy looks way older than his drawing form, but compensates that first shocking impression with heaps of optimism and a childlike attitude towards the world that becomes almost addicting.

All in all, Harold and the Purple Crayon seems like a rushed project. The casting could be better, and the writing could use another year of rethinking and patch-up work. Good special effects don’t cut it any more. Just because your target audience is kids, doesn’t mean you can just feed them whatever half-baked thought that has crossed your mind.

Thanks to Sony Pictures for big screen access!

Advice to take from this movie:

• If you have inconsequential characters (the detectives), expand or delete, don’t just leave them there wasting your audience’s time.
• Do all Americans need to have a secret handshake with kids? Can’t they just say hello like normal people?
• Get yourself some weird friends, life is better with weird company.

What’s your take? Have you watched Harold and the Purple Crayon? Were you also surprised by Deschanel’s lack of facial expressions? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀