Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024)

Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha offers us a not-so-perfect look at the classic Crockett Johnson book.

We have all read or had someone read to us the adventures of Harold and his magic crayon, so there is excitement and hope that something interesting and familiar will come out of the wonderful film adaptation of Crockett's books.

However, the Brazilian director can hardly do anything with a script that is not quite to his liking to convince both grown-ups and children.

With Zachary Levi as Harold, despite his wishes, his portrayal of Harold remains uninteresting and we might add that the entire cast seems obliged to do their best, which they don't. feel.

We are presented with a story that, while it has some good moments, is not quite entertaining enough. The reasons could be many, but the most important one is that the film lacks imagination, or rather a proposal that lacks heart and joy, which ultimately puts off the grown-ups, but will probably entertain children in many ways.

The director's attempt to bring to life a script that never comes to fruition, even in the final climax, seems far more accurate than one might expect from a film about Harold and his pencils.

Thanks to a sometimes accurate, sometimes awkward visuals and a cast that stands out with remarkable intensity, we have a film that, while not a disaster, comes off as a bit bland and unadventurous. so we never complete the final proposal they made.

What I'm left with is entertainment for the little ones and misery for the older ones, but all in all it's a film that doesn't lose sight of the message it wants to convey and is perhaps more satisfying than malignant, which is what Crockett Johnson has always made great.