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Harold and the Purple Crayon Reviews
Zachary Levi and Zooey Deschanel elevate this family film into something engaging, with the aroma of originality, despite itself being an adaptation.
Baffling and ill-conceived.
An unimaginative, soulless cash grab that fails to capture the whimsy and magic of its source material.
Harold and the Purple Crayon is a joyous celebration of art and love that is kept from being sublime only by the performance of its lead actor. The supporting cast does wonderful and amusing work that would have been better served by a stronger lead.
Nothing on-screen in Harold can overcome the fact this was just a lousy idea. Director Carlos Saldanha (Rio) has a few lovely flourishes, but the simplicity, timelessness and magic of the source material has stayed stubbornly on the page.
.... while the film is, ultimately, fine, that its target enjoyed it enough to want to revisit it is what matters. Personally, I’d rather go back to the source.
Seeing Harold, his friends, and his crayons come to life is a treat that anyone familiar with the books would be interested to see.
Harold and the Purple Crayon contains some intriguing visual effects and a fine turn from Zachary Levi, but sadly the film falls short when it comes to its narrative, which simply doesn't have a whole lot to it.
This lethargic adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s classic children’s book of yesteryear gets just about everything wrong, and yet, almost nudges its way into partial favour with an occasional moment of genuine inspiration.
In this sense, Harold and the Purple Crayon strikes the perfect balance between creating something that is primarily aimed at children but also catering to its inevitable adult audience of parents taking their kids to the cinema.
Levi capers around with a big, goofy smile and a squeak in his voice -- but there’s more desperation than humour in the performance.
You can feel the strain in almost every frame of this expensive, try-hard fantasy jaunt that attempts to bring the classic 1955 Crockett Johnson children’s book to life by pushing it into the real world. Alas, it is a noble misfire.
This has all the trappings to be an unforgettable experience. Pity that it barely scratches that surface.
The biggest sin of this movie is that it ignores the most interesting questions and always chooses the most generic way to adapt this story. [Full review in Spanish]
Generations of kids have grown up on this book that's small, intimate, charming, warm and sincere. So of course, in Hollywood we have to make it loud, vulgar, hypocritical, phony and tacky.
The story shifts from a magical exploration of creativity to a more conventional live-action adventure, with Zachary Levi taking over as a grown-up Harold. Levi brings plenty of energy to the character, but his performance occasionally veers ....
A decent attempt at bringing a classic story to life, but its lacklustre execution ultimately holds it back.
Isn't funny or quirky enough to entertain kids (or adults).
Unfortunately, it doesn't really do a great job of balancing that animated style that it starts off with... when it moves into the live action, there's no magic to it.
in Carlos Saldanha’s Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024) we learn what happens after “God” goes away. It’s pretty heavy stuff. Too bad it’s told in an insipid, mostly inconsistent tale that’s more full of child endangerment than real substantive plot.