Harold and the Purple Crayon
Younger viewers may find the film moderately amusing, but the misguided decision to age-up its characters and set the story in live-action results in a movie that lacks the charm and subtlety of its beloved source material.
About the Film
Crockett Johnson’s 1955 children’s book Harold and the Purple Crayon is one of the most beloved works in children’s literature. The charming narrative about the beauty of childhood imagination is profound in its simplicity. So naturally, execs in a Hollywood boardroom thought, “That’s precious…but what if Harold was live-action? And an adult? And navigating the harsher real world in a movie filled with noisy spectacle?” Younger viewers may be moderately amused, but the misguided decision to age-up its characters and set the story in live-action results in a movie that lacks the charm and subtlety of its beloved source material.
As was obvious from the film’s marketing campaign, Harold and the Purple Crayon is not a direct adaptation of the book. Instead, the original story is quickly recapped in a fun opening animated scene before the audience is informed that the story did not end there. To the misfortune of the adult viewers, it proceeds to portray a new adventure for Harold (who has now grown up) and his pals, Moose and Porcupine, as they travel into the “real world” to look for the narrator (and their creator) who has gone missing.
Enjoyment (or lack thereof) of Harold and the Purple Crayon likely hinges on how viewers feel about the decision to morph cute little cartoon Harold into live-action adult Zachary Levi (if I had a dollar for every time I’ve reviewed a movie in which Zachary Levi plays a child stuck in a man’s body…). To his credit, as he demonstrated with his similar character in Shazam, Zachary Levi is one of the Hollywood actors best suited for such a role. But that doesn’t mean it works. The main problem is not that the decision to age-up Harold fails to honor the original book. The more immediate issue is that it’s simply not much fun to watch adult Levi act like childish Harold. It’s a gimmick that quickly overstays its welcome.
Of course, I am not the target audience for this film. Despite the aged-up cast, Harold and the Purple Crayon remains a story aimed at children. From that perspective, there are some amusing moments that may please younger viewers, particularly when Harold is wielding the purple crayon. But oddly, movie-version Harold’s creative vision is almost entirely limited to transportation devices (airplane, motorcycle, skateboard, roller-skates, a spare tire, etc.).
The final confrontation between Harold and the antagonist comes closest to showcasing the vast potential of the purple crayon. But for most of the movie, the filmmakers seem to lack the creative range of book-version Harold, and the film doesn’t utilize its most exciting element—the purple crayon of limitless power—often or inventively enough. Also, and this may be nitpicking, the movie’s emphasis on the crayon itself seems contrary to the central point of the book. In the book, the purple crayon was a regular crayon, and the true power to create endless worlds and adventures was in the imagination. In the movie, the crayon itself possesses power (even if imagination is still required to unleash it).
At times, the film hints at some interesting deeper themes and messages, including some with religious significance. Yet it’s rarely able to fashion its various squiggles and ideas into a clear picture. Is Harold and the Purple Crayon an awful movie? Nah. And with a brisk 1:30 runtime, it doesn’t drag on beyond the point of tolerance. For kids looking for diversion (or their exhausted parents hoping for a break), the movie might fit the bill. But for a film about the power of creativity, it feels oddly uninspired. With his trusty purple crayon and active imagination, Harold could travel anywhere. But maybe it’s best if he contains his adventures to the 2D realm of animated literature and leaves the “real world” (and Hollywood) behind.
For Consideration
Language: Two uses of “Oh my G—,” as well as a few other notable words (“oh shoot” or “morons”). A character uses a fictional language as a possible substitute for a profanity (“sh—”)
Violence: None.
Sexuality: Harold naively declares to another man that he’s been seeing a woman a lot and that he spent the night at her house, and it’s implied that the other man erroneously assumes sexual activity. During a reading at a library, an author reads a passage that focuses on the hero’s sculpted body and “perfectly placed nipples.” Harold leaves a public advertisement asking for an “old man” (his term for the narrator) to call him and then provides a woman’s phone number, leading to a bunch of calls from old men who are interested in a relationship.
Other: As is often the case in this type of movie, kids and parents make plenty of dubious decisions, including a kid skipping school to go off alone with strangers and sneaking out of the house at night. Also, the villain—who uses the crayon’s power to become a sort of wizard— makes the declaration, “Upon this rock I will erect my kingdom,” which is a likely allusion to Christ’s words to Peter (Matthew 16:18).
Engage The Film
The Created and the Creator
At the start of the film, Harold looks at his friends, Moose and Porcupine (who were created by the purple crayon), and muses, “If I drew you, then who drew me?” In response, the voice of the narrator speaks up to take credit, leading Harold to ask further questions: “Why can’t I see you?” and “Why did you draw me?” These are surprisingly philosophically and theologically rich questions with easy application to the realm of faith. Tolkien’s famous concept of “sub-creation” comes to mind (we create because we are ourselves made in the likeness of a Creator, etc.).
Unsurprisingly, the film doesn’t resolve the tension in a meaningful way. Afterall, author Crockett Johnson (the presumed narrator) died in 1975. As a mortal, he is not an eternal presence in the story. In a final showdown, the villain taunts Harold that he now has “no narrator to tell you what to do.” Harold responds, “Well, I believe in me and my friends.” A healthy sense of self-belief is a fine message on its own, but as a continuation of the narrative thread about a spiritual search for a creator, the answer is less satisfactory. Even so, parents may find elements that can spark deeper conversations with their kids.
Growing Up in the Real WorldGrowing Up in the Real World
There is also an underlying theme of growing up. The “cartoon world” represents childhood innocence, and the “real world” comes to symbolize the harsher realities of adult life. There are similarities to Barbie, in which a character leaves a safe world of imagination and is forced to “grow up” with a newfound knowledge of death and pain. At one point, Moose expresses his desire to return to the cartoon world: “We don’t belong here, with all this pain.” While the real world seems to strip Harold of his innocence and imagination (at least temporarily), the film ultimately suggests that despite the hardships and pain, there is healing power and joy to be found in our imaginations, for both children and adults.
