Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024)
Inside of 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, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life.
- Carlos Saldanha
- Crockett Johnson
- Michael Handelman
- David Guion
- Crockett Johnson
Rating: 6.9/10 by 221 users
Alternative Title:
Harold és a varázsceruza - HU
Harold és a lila varázskréta - HU
蠟筆小哈 - TW
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 30 minutes
Budget: $40,000,000
Revenue: $31,999,914
Plot Keyword: based on children's book, live action and animation, crayon, imagination, moose
There's something about Zachary Levi that I quite like. Like in "Shazam" (2019), he has a boyish charm to him that is engaging to watch. In this, admittedly the story is all pretty thin, but his characterisation has a friendliness to it that I found quite enjoyable. "Harold" is the human manifestation of a fellow who lives quite happily in the land of fiction, but who arrives in the real world to try and find his creator "the old man". Together with his more reluctant pal "Moose" (Lil Rel Howery) he starts approaching old gents in the park - and yes, well that just causes pain. Then he encounters the young "Mel" (Benjamin Bottani) and his mum "Terry" (Zooey Deschanel) after she hits him with her car. An overnight at their home sees the start of a rather daft bonding exercise that's completely devoid of jeopardy but thanks to the odd intervention from fantasy-obsessed librarian "Gary" (Jermaine Clement) and his straggling pal "Porcupine" (Tanya Reynolds) is quite fun. There's an innocence to the whole thing that is quite touchingly simple and honest. People with invisible friends - didn't we all? The animation is perfectly adequate and the purple crayon could teach a 3D printer a thing or two about creating an aeroplane or a car tyre. Sure, it's all forgettable fayre and I'm not too sure if it's in any way sophisticated enough for today's kids - but it's generally quite an entertaining vehicle for a star who looks every inch in his element. It's a summer movie that's as good as any of the more hyped animation's I've seen so far in 2024.
