Harold und die Zauberkreide

This is a fantasy movie based on a popular book. The movie starts with just line drawing animation. Harold and his two imaginary friends, a Moose and a Porcupine. Whatever Harold can imagine, then draw an outline with his purple crayon, becomes reality. Then Harold draws a door with his magical purple crayon, opens it, and finds himself in the real world of Providence, Rhode Island.

Zachary Levi has been a favorite of ours for a number of years, he is the real world Harold. He knows nothing about the real world so he immediately has to learn how it works and how people communicate.

Next the Moose and the Porcupine make their way through the door, each takes on a human form.

The movie is just made for entertainment, however there is a good message embedded - to never quit dreaming and never limit yourself. The good person that befriends them is Zooey Deschanel as Terry and her young son. The bad guy that creates problems is Jemaine Clement as Gary who desperately wants Terry but she wants no part of him.

My wife and I watched it at home, on DVD from our public library. Just pleasant, quirky entertainment after Saturday evening steak and wine dinner, with chocolate cake of course!

LIKES:

Cute

Charmingly Funny

Good Lessons

Loved the Imagination

Feels Like a Kids Book Coming to Life

Fun Music

Zachary Levi

DISLIKES:

A Little Too Kiddy

Odd At Times

Zooey Deschanel

Trying To Be Something Wow and Coming Off Bland

Moved Too Quickly

Summary

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a sequel to the beloved book that somehow is just as charming as the piece of literature. A fantastic and fun movie for families, it holds charming comedy, innocent jokes, and a few adult jokes that are easily G-rated to make this enjoyable for all ages. This sequel takes all of the innocence of the movie and unleashes it onto the real world and in doing so provides plenty of lessons for the world to review and hopefully learn. That heartfelt presentation adds this quaint and enjoyable tone, only amplified by the feel-good music that accompanies many of the "epic" bouts of crayon catastrophe. The imagination of the film is intense in terms of that elaborate wildness of youth and I loved how much they mirrored the inner spirit of a child in the way the drawings transitioned into the items they "semi-resembled". For me, Levi is the star of the show though. Like so many of his roles, he just has a way of unleashing his full potential into the role, giving it this odd man-child that is enjoyable rather than sad or annoying. When combined with the others, he manages to bring a dynamic portrayal of the character without seeming to try too hard.

If only the full imagination was unleashed in this film. A magical purple crayon can create a lot of magic, but it didn't quite craft the masterpiece I think they were shooting for. The innocent humor stays a little too juvenile in tone, lacking the finesse, breaks, and planning that I like in my PG-rated films. The odd humor and awkward styles are perfect for laughs, but in terms of the perfect movie are missing some of the composure that I've seen in other films. Deschanel didn't do much for me outside of a few laughs and some sparkling piano work but feels very underutilized as the source of sarcastic jokes and antagonism to Harold's optimism. And with a short run time and presenting so many things, I think the movie fell flat in terms of standing out as that awesome movie of the year. And though there are some great finishes and a narrative that holds a few heart-tugging lines... it still falls short of the gold for me.

Thus, with all the factors coming in, my recommendation is to catch this one at home with the family to optimize your time and money. As for the scores, here they are:

Adventure/Animation/Comedy/Family/Fantasy: 7.0 Movie Overall: 6.0.

This movie is similar to the movie IF but slightly different, won't explain that because that will spoil the movie. This movie was a little bit entertaining because the people (who created this movie), creative skills are spot on artistically good. It is more visually appealing and contains more action, movement, tries to provoke excitement & energy emotions out of the audience. It is very dynamic and makes it look like all the actors involved in this movie are not only high on sugar , adult sugar ;) , but are very similar to dogs who are having zoomies (running extremely fast around or onto objects over & over again). It is worth looking but it is not that exciting as the ads & promotion about it, claim it is.

Kids, wife and myself all enjoyed Harold and The Purple Crayon.

I understand some people who have a close connection to the book aren't thrilled with the film. I don't know the book that well, so I was able to go into the movie with an open mind.

As a standalone story, it stands up as a fun and humorous feel-good kids film with great imagination.

Levi does a good job humanizing a very outrageous premise. He blends over the top behaviour you'd expect from a cartoon character with sincere heart. He really seems right in his wheelhouse here. Reynolds and Howery as Porcupine and Moose are great fun. And Clement is delightful as a funny antagonist you really enjoy rooting against.

As an adult viewer, you will certainly have to suspend your disbelief - even more than you would for other family fantasy films (the way they execute the leap from the "book world" to the "real world" was even more outrageous that I'd ever have expected) and the plot develops so fast it's hard to keep up with the leaps in logic. With that said, it settles in to a fun l, easy to consume, adventure.

My kids loved it and look forward to seeing it again. My wife, who is an educator familiar with the book, liked it very much as well. For me, it was a fun movie to enjoy with my family at the end of a school week.

I was hesitant to go see this film after looking at the low meta critic, and since I don't have a particular tie to the original book. I took my kids as an act of summer break distraction and it did just the trick. I understand why this is getting rated so low, I also love the meme reviews claiming it as the best movie ever made. This movie actually has some really great visual effects, and I think Zachary Levi's acting makes the film entertaining to watch. The problems with this movie are numerable, weird subplots between these animals turned into humans, and two different antagonists with one that they just leave behind in the Final Cut. The show lacks a clear vision, which is a shame because I think there was good bones to this. Overall I think it's a totally decent kids movie, but as a whole it is simply mediocre and lacking a clear statement.