What’s It About
Inside his book, adventurous Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, he soon learns his trusty crayon can set off more hilarious hijinks than he thought possible. However, when the power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands, it will take all of his creativity to save both the real world and his own.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
The themes and setting from 1955 don’t translate well, given the substantial changes in the 69 years since the book’s release. It’s like watching “Leave It to Beaver” through the lens of 2024 logic. “Harold and the Purple Crayon” feels obviously out of sync in more ways than one. However, as a children’s movie, there are elements that adults must simply overlook and allow to unfold. The film envisions a scenario where Harold grows up, probing his surroundings and questioning the narrator. By using his enchanted crayon, Harold brings himself to life from the confines of the page, venturing into the real world. Zachary Levi delivers a flawless portrayal of Harold, embodying a buoyant man-child navigating the complexities of his three-dimensional environment. His companion, Moose, portrayed by Lil Rel Howery, is a sidekick who dozes upright. Like Moose, Tanya Reynolds’ character, Porcupine, materializes in human form alongside Harold in the real world. Following an incident, Terry (Zooey Deschanel), a single mother who hates her job, takes in Harold and Moose and her son Mel (Benjamin Bottani), who deals with bullying like Bart Simpson. The fact that Harold and Moose behave like the individuals who give the reason for the invention of door locks goes without question. Terry invites the adult strangers to stay at her home and spend time with her young son, a classic “Stranger Danger 101” case. However, it’s worth remembering that this is not intended for adult viewers and is based on a 1955 children’s book series penned during the Cold War. It adheres to pure and unembellished kid logic, where everything and everyone is exactly as they appear. The heroes are noble, the police are well-intentioned but unobservant, and the villains are easily recognizable. Speaking of antagonists, Jemaine Clement appears as an evil librarian named Gary. He typifies the archetypal juvenile villain, toiling in a library, crafting subpar fiction, and yearning for Mel’s mother to acknowledge and desire him – as expected. If you stay engaged until the film’s last act, it follows the established rules of cinema—it must climax in a showdown. Regrettably, leading up to the final confrontation, you would expect a film about a boy who can materialize anything he draws to be brimming with imaginative creatures throughout its ninety-minute duration. However, the imagination is confined to what’s shown in the trailer, excluding the concluding scene, and all loose ends are neatly tied up, adhering to the mold of a children’s movie with a seventy-year-old ideology. “Harold and the Purple Crayon” isn’t a poor film. Still, it unequivocally necessitates a pure heart and a worthy persona akin to Thor’s hammer to be thoroughly appreciated.
OUR RATING – A SIMPLE 6
MEDIA
- Genre – Family
- Street date
- Digital – August 27, 2024
- Blu-Ray/DVD – October 8, 2024
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 1.85:1
- Sound – English, French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish, English & French Audio Description Tracks 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles – English, English SDH, Spanish, French
Extras
- How to Draw Harold, Porcupine & Moose
- “Colors” Sing Along
- How Do You Spell Imagination?
- Deleted & Extended Scenes