Harold And The Purple Crayon Isn’t The Disaster You’ve Been Told

I took my kids to see Harold and the Purple Crayon today when a friend invited us to join her. I hadn’t intended to see it because we’ve been busy, but we’re huge fans of Zachary Levi from Shazam!, so we went for it.

I went into the theater with zero expectations. I can even say that, as a mother who is a writer, has an office that is more library than anything, and whose kids’ room is entirely filled with books, we’ve never read the book this movie is based on. 

Harold and the Purple Crayon deserves much more praise than it’s getting for many reasons. Though I will admit there are a few dark spots. Let’s start with those.

The film is too long at 90 minutes. Toward the end, it feels like a good 10 minutes could have been shaved off and made the run time perfect.

Also, what is happening with Zooey Deschanel? She was almost a cardboard cutout of herself. As a huge fan of hers, I’m hoping this role was just a miss. 

Those negative marks aside, the rest of the film and the cast in Harold and the Purple Crayon is in top form. The film begins with Harold, Moose, and Porcupine in the book, animated, talking with the narrator, or author of the book, who they refer to as “Old Man.”

Then, one day, the trio wakes up to find Old Man is no longer talking to them. So, Harold draws a door to the real world with his purple crayon, and the animated characters come to life in human form as they enter our reality.

Harold is played by Levi, Moose is played by Lil Rey Howery, and Porcupine is played by Tanya Reynolds. The animals take human form in the real world. 

They immediately start looking for Old Man, only to find that there are way more old men in the real world than they realized. While riding down the street on a bicycle made by Harold and the purple crayon he always has with him, Harold and Moose are hit by Terri (Deschanel).

Terri’s son Mel, it turns out, has an imaginary friend, Carl, and he instantly takes to the childlike wonder Harold displays. The two become fast friends, and Mel convinces Terri to let Harold and Moose stay in their room above the garage while they look for Old Man.  

The plot thickens, because we need a villain, when Harold, Moose, and Mel go to Librarian Gary (played by the always spectacular Jemaine Clement of What We Do in the Shadows fame) for help, but Gary merely wants to take Harold’s crayon to create his own magical world.

Readers of the book, and more mature viewers, can probably guess where Old Man is and why he stopped talking to Harold, but getting there is endearing, funny, and hopeful.

At its heart, Harold and the Purple Crayon is about creating a world you love, about never letting go of your imagination, and about holding onto hope.

GFR SCORE

Rotten Tomatoes shows only 26 percent of 57 critics gave the film positive reviews but 92 percent of more than 250 audience members loved it. I think this is reflective of audience members’ ability to be childlike, and to share in the joy of the children they likely saw this movie with.

I know my kids and I, as well as our friends, laughed out loud several times watching Harold and the Purple Crayon, and I was deeply satisfied with the storyline and how it wrapped up. In fact, I’d love to see a sequel.