by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
Having lived in a cartoon world his entire life, with the ability to create anything simply by drawing it, Harold (Zachary Levi) decides to draw a door to the real world when his “narrator” (Alfred Molina) mysteriously goes silent. As Harold and his friends, Moose (Lil Rel Howery) and Porcupine (Tanya Reynolds), explore and wreak havoc in the human world, they discover things work differently here, and that the power of imagination could be a real danger should it fall into the wrong hands.
Harold and the Purple Crayon is based on the children’s book of the same name by Crockett Johnson, and the film’s opening sequence does a good job of connecting the events of the book to this story. This is very obviously a sequel that takes place years later. While I wasn’t familiar with the book before hearing about this film, I remember seeing the children’s show, Penny Crayon, as a kid. That show was also about a character drawing things that came to life and the shenanigans that then ensued. I remember thinking there was the potential for many exciting visuals with a concept like that.
Harold and the Purple Crayon’s visuals shine, with many fun sequences of Harold drawing onto thin air and an object popping into existence. But I can’t help but think there was potential for a lot more. The setting is a generic city, and most of the sequences of Harold drawing objects take place in pretty bland locations. While the objects he draws make for a few clever and funny gags, most of it leads to standard, over-the-top physical comedy often seen in comedic kid’s stories like this. At no point in the story does Harold use the crayon to change the surroundings that he is in by creating something like a background or a body of water. He only draws objects to help him in a situation. Similarly, after drawing a door to get to the “real world,” Harold never repeats this action to go anywhere else. I point these things out not to criticize the story for things it doesn’t do, but to emphasize the lack of creativity in what Harold does with the crayon.
There are several other characters in this story aside from Harold. The Moose and Porcupine that appear on a single page of the original book follow Harold into the real world, become human (it’s best not to wonder why), and take part in a lot of the standard fish-out-of-water hijinks you see in stories like this. There are some clever gags with these two when they act like the animals they are supposed to be, but these gags are few and far between. Howery and Reynolds give compelling performances that add much to the experience of watching them attempt to understand the real world. Still, in a story about creative visuals, it probably wasn’t needed.
Shortly after arriving in the real world, Harold runs into a woman named Terry (Zooey Deschanel) and her son, Mel (Benjamin Bottani), and Harold goes to them for help finding the narrator from his world, who he calls “old man.” This leads to a relatively basic plot of the group searching for a specific person, and things become very meta when we discover the book this is based on also exists in this world. This is a framing device for whatever they want them to do with the crayon. There are also several other unnecessary elements to this plot line. Terry acts as a generic stick-in-the-mud parent most of the time, and is oblivious to the crayon’s power for a large part of the story. In fact, after a while, it starts to get a little ludicrous how no one seems to notice Harold creating objects out of thin air. Still, it’s best not to think about things like that in a film for kids that is much more about visuals.
Meanwhile, librarian Gary (Jemaine Clement) adopts an antagonist role to make the plot more exciting and heighten the stakes. This makes for a gripping climax, and Gary’s motive as a villain is pretty original and works with the meta theme of the story. Unfortunately, his character is boring, and Clement’s performance doesn’t do much to keep you engaged.
As for the other performances, Levi, portraying a character who has only lived in a fantasy world his whole life, is channelling his performance in Shazam!,where he played a kid in a man’s body. Some have compared his character to Buddy from Elf. But while Will Ferrell conveys a charming, innocent and naive vibe in Elf, with Levi, it’s exciting and wondrous. It’s an acceptable performance of a juvenile but not foolish vibe, which he pulls off just as well here as in the two Shazam! films. However, if I’m honest, it’s been wearing a bit thin on me since Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and I was getting similar feelings after about an hour of watching him as Harold. It’s not Levi’s fault, as the story needs to give his character a more comprehensive range of things to do. Deschanel seems a little unsure of what sort of performance to offer; her character appears to be the straight person of the group, but she’s also a foil to many things Harold and his friends want to do. As a result, she sometimes acts as a voice of reason and, at other times, comes across as unlikable. I’m sure Deschanel is doing her best with what she has to work with, even though I’ve never liked her that much as an actress. However, the performance is very wooden and doesn’t work well off Levi’s more vibrant presence.
Overall, Harold and the Purple Crayon has enough compelling visuals and moments of humor to make it at least watchable. However, it falls short in many other areas; decent visuals aren’t enough to carry the entire experience. The story is somewhat generic and has too many characters, which makes it difficult to follow. Some clever meta moments make for a slightly pleasing climax. The performances are somewhat hit-and-miss, as is the comedy. This is a kid’s film through and through, and while certainly not one the parents will enjoy as much, it is one they will be able to sit through. But I can’t help but think the premises had so much more potential.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
Harold and the Purple Crayon is currently playing in theaters
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