“Sweet, innocent, charming, involving, and extremely entertaining, Harold And The Purple Crayon is top-quality family entertainment.”
Based on the 1955 children’s book of the same title by Crockett Johnson, Harold And The Purple Crayon is drawing itself into the world’s cinemas. This movie adaptation features Zachary Levi as the title character alongside Lil Rel Howery as Moose, and Tanya Reynolds as Porcupine. Also featuring Benjamin Bottani, Jemaine Clement, and Zooey Deschanel. In addition to the voice of Alfred Molina as the narrator, the film is set to be one of the go-to family films of the summer. With a great cast, lots of charm, some good humour along the way and a sense of wonder, can the film become a family favourite, drawing them in? Or should it have simply been erased?
PREMISE
The film serves as a sequel to the original book. After the adventurous Harold grows up with his magical purple crayon and draws himself off the book’s pages. And into the physical world, he finds that he has a lot to learn about real life.
THOUGHTS
The film isn’t anything that we haven’t seen before. From the start, we adults can predict how the film will go and how it will end. But it’s the getting there that provides the entertainment. The film is wonderful from start to finish. It is colourful, funny, charming, and touching. And shows us a sense of wonder, a sense of childish innocence that we can immerse ourselves in. It brings us back to those days when our imagination brought the world to life. The little worlds we created in our minds are brought to life here, as well as the desire we had to create things we craved. It is all here, wrapped up in a cute little package that will bring joy to the audience.
ZACHARY LEVI
Zachary Levi is outstanding as Harold. The film opens by bringing the pages of the book to life, using animation that showcases the book’s illustrations brilliantly. Once Harold steps through the door he’s drawn to enter the real world, Levi takes over. And he does a brilliant job. Throughout, Levi brings a childlike innocence to the character, a sense of wonderment and awe at what he sees in the real world. Of course, Harold uses his crayon to create things that come to life and become real, causing untold chaos along the way. But Harold doesn’t understand this, all he sees is trying to help people with whatever they need.
Some of these things are superb creations, such as a cool motorbike that he, Moose, and Porcupine travel on at times. He allows Benjamin Bottani’s character of the young child Mel to draw and create ‘Spiderfly’, something that is both cute and terrifying at the same time. Levi comes across as extremely likeable as the real Harold, drawing the audience into his world and innocence from start to finish. The way he inhabits the character helps the film to be as enjoyable as it is. His performance anchors the film at times when it could so easily have taken off in the wrong direction.
LIL REY HOWERY AND TANYA REYNOLDS
Lil Rel Howery as Moose and Tanya Reynolds as Porcupine are the perfect foil for Levi. Howery brings a huge sense of fun as Moose, human for the most part but transforms back into his true self at times of stress. His sense of comic timing brings an element of fun to an already fun-filled movie. Together, Levi and Howery deliver the goods, none more so during the chain store scenes. While Harold takes the names of things too literally, Moose spends the majority of it hooked to a large screen TV showing scenes of his kind in the wild. While mayhem erupts around him, Moose is addicted to what he’s seeing on TV. Howery is brilliant in his role, becoming a highlight throughout.
Tanya Reynolds as Porcupine spends the majority of the film apart from the main pairing. But she gets to show her comic timing and her superb acting skills. Again, when she is on screen, Porcupine brings a sense of childlike innocence to her surroundings. Using her nose, she constantly sees and smells things she believes are Harold, only to find out they are anything but. In one scene, she enters a house she thinks Harold and Moose are in, only to discover that she has broken into a stranger’s home. Her escape is hilarious and her hissing and snarling at a security camera makes the audience roar with laughter. It is an inspired performance from the actress, one that shines through.
THE SUPPORTING CAST
Benjamin Bottani as Mel, Jemaine Clement as Gary Naswich and Zooey Deschanel as Terri all stand out. The young Bottani pulls off the helpful child role with relative ease. He swiftly becomes Harold and Mosse’s friend, joining them on their exploits and becoming someone Harold can identify with. The trope of being a child who has lost his father is used here to good effect. Giving the character of Mel a deeper resonance with the audience. Clement as Gary gets the villainous role. Gary is a failed author reduced to running the town’s library. Realising that Harold is a character from a book and possessing something that he can use to fulfil his own ends, Gary quickly becomes the slimy, evil and devious character a film like this needs. Clement gives a masterful performance, making us hope he gets his just deserts by the end credits and beyond.
Zooey Deschanel as Terri gets the role of the widowed mom. The actress gives a heartfelt and often quite funny performance when she’s on screen. It is a token role, one we see in films of this kind. But that doesn’t hold the actress back from being completely likeable throughout. Every time something goes wrong for her, such as being fired from her job at the store due to Harold and Moose’s antics. Or worrying about her son growing up without his father, she comes to the fore brilliantly. By the end credits, we hope she and Harold become a couple. Whether or not they do remains to be discovered by the audience. But we find ourselves drawn to Terri, reaching out to her with our hearts.
THE SCRIPT, DIRECTION, AND EFFECTS
The screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman is effective enough. The pair bring the novel and its characters to the screen in something that we have seen countless times before. But despite this, their writing makes the film highly enjoyable. They instil a sense of wonder, innocence and childlike awe into proceedings. Making us enjoy every second of the 92-minute film. Throw in the direction by Carlos Saldanha, a veteran of family movies and you’ve got a terrific mix that does exactly what it needs to do. Saldanha shoots the film in the perfect way. Allowing his actors to breathe and contribute to what the script demands from them. While wowing us with the beauty he brings to the film.
The effects are top-notch from the very start. Whether it’s bringing what Harold draws with his crayon to life, utilizing them to accentuate what the script demands. Or simply bringing something else to life, they don’t disappoint. The creation of Spiderfly or Mel’s imaginary friend Carl may scare very young children at first but by the climax, the youngsters will be completely in love with them. By the time the film ends, older children may be wanting their own purple crayon. But the younger members of the audience will be wanting their own Spiderfly or Carl for themselves. To be honest, if stuffed versions of the two creatures are created and hit the retail market, I’d certainly buy them…for myself!
VERDICT
Sweet, innocent, charming, involving, and extremely entertaining, Harold And The Purple Crayon is top-quality family entertainment. It hits us adults right in the heart with its charming tale while kids will get a kick out of the imaginary things that the film creates. It isn’t always plain sailing, some things grate slightly and some things are not fleshed out fully. But that hardly matters when you’re wowed with what’s on screen. Although it isn’t anything we haven’t seen before over the years, it does exactly what it needs to do. It entertains.
It takes us out of reality for a brief 92 minutes and thrusts us into a world of wonder, imagination and fun. With some of the big summer blockbusters containing more adult-themed scenes and stories, this is the perfect antithesis to them. This is a fairytale wrapped up in a story that inspires our imagination. Of course, it leaves the door open for a sequel, should it be successful. But with this kind of fun to be had, Harold And The Purple Crayon deserves to draw the audience in time and again.
Harold And The Purple Crayon is released by Sony Pictures Releasing.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
