Film Review – Harold And The Purple Crayon (2024)

It’s an idea packed with cuteness. A small boy, little more than a toddler, creates the world around him by drawing it with a magic crayon. With its direct line into the fresh, unlimited imagination of a child, 1950s graphic novel Harold And The Purple Crayon allowed its young readers to lose themselves in a world that seamlessly combined fantasy with simplicity. The film version arriving in cinemas this week keeps the title but, sadly, little else.

Harold has grown up from the little boy in the book and, as a young man, draws his way off its pages so he can experience the real world for himself. It’s a confusing place, especially for somebody who is still essentially a child at heart and, as he tries to understand what’s happening around him, his crayon allows him to draw more adventures. But its power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands and it means Harold and his friends have to summon up all their creativity to not only save the real world but also stand a chance of returning to where they really belong.

The film’s early moments introduce us to the magic of the original book, reproducing the innocence of its cartoons, but they’re all too fleeting. It becomes what’s been described as a hybrid, in other words, a combination of animation, live action, and CGI but, while the phrase attempts to conceal a chequered development history, what it actually does is highlight the film’s muddleheaded approach to telling its story. It’s even more surprising that director Carlos Saldanha, whose track record in animation includes Ice Age and Rio, has opted for a combination of styles that barely hangs together. Inevitably, those first scenes are full of promise, but the CGI that follows squanders its opportunities to create any excitement or magic and the resulting experience lands with a disappointing thud.

At the heart of the story is the idea of living life with the simplicity of a child, finding the joy, and following your dreams. And, while the film does a slightly better job of exploring that, it can never resist the descent into cliché. Elements of Peter Pan also peek through, alongside hints of Big, and most of it comes from Zachary Levi, who gives us his usual big kid schtick – the boy in a man’s body who doesn’t understand the world around him. The rest of the cast don’t get much of a look-in – with one welcome exception. Jermaine Clement manages to turn what is essentially a lacklustre villain into something approaching a scene stealer, getting all the laughs and providing some genuine entertainment.

A film with so little sense of direction is a sad sight. Sure, it’s a family movie but aside from a few action sequences and Clement’s efforts, there’s little to consistently captivate youngsters or charm the adults. With bigger and better titles aimed at the same audience this summer, Harold and his friends could easily find themselves being squeezed out of cinemas. And neither he nor his crayon will be able to change that.

★★

In UK cinemas from 31 July / Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery, Tanya Reynolds, Jemaine Clement, Alfred Molina, Zooey Deschanel / Dir: Carlos Saldanha / Sony Pictures / PG

About the Author

Freda Cooper

Editor

Freda is a Senior Writer at The People's Movies. A lifelong movie fan and a film critic for over ten years, Freda’s natural habitat is the darkened rooms frequented by fellow cineastes. She can also be found asking questions of some of the biggest names in the business – from Cate Blanchett to Daniel Craig or Mike Leigh to Pete Docter – or crafting reviews for a number of sites and publications, including The People’s Movies. And listeners to BBC Local Radio can catch her views on the latest releases. She always – and probably always will – cite The Third Man as her favourite film of all time. Her top ten? That’s a moveable feast …..

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