Crockett Johnson's Harold series, consisting of ten books, has been a firm favourite of many childhoods. Blending simple but evocative illustrations with a story about the difference between imagination and reality, it's no surprise that the books have been turned into a television series and has long been screaming out for a big-screen adaptation. The development of a film has gone through several iterations until Carlos Saldanha, the director behind Blue Sky animations Ice Age: The Meltdown, Rio and Ferdinand came forward to mix animation and live action.
Harold and the Purple Crayon smartly adapts the first book as a wonderful animation within the first ten minutes, opting then to take the titular Harold (Zachary Levi) and throw him into the real world. He's followed by his friends Moose (Lil Rel Howery) and Porcupine (Tanya Reynolds) both of whom become human. In the real world, Harold and co meet cynical single mother Terri (Zooey Deschanel) and her son Mel (Benjamin Bottani), who is still reeling from the untimely death of his father.
The film is hardly original. The storybook character entering the real world and meeting a single parent and child feels lifted directly from Enchanted, while Levi is doing his sub-Big schtick he did so well in Shazam! His performance also feels influenced by the beautiful naivety of Will Ferrell's Elf. There's nothing wrong with Harold and the Purple Crayon's lack of originality; in a way the touchstones are considered old by the under-ten crowd who probably haven't seen those films and will find the fish-out-of-water things funny.
In fact, it's helped because the visuals of the magic crayon, drawn in thin air then puffing to life in a cloud of purple smoke, is cartoony and leads to fun sequences. There's a big ruckus in a department store involving pumas, helicopters and spring stilts, a flying sequence complete with screaming moose, and slapstick comedy involving running into things or being hit by things. All benchmarks of family films, and it's headed by Levi who honed these skills so well in Shazam! and here brings an innocence to Harold that is easy to invest in.
It's also surprising that Bottani as the child sidekick is so complexly drawn. He's not a little kid, and the subplot of him having an imaginary pet dragon illustrates the core themes of the film. Harold and the Purple Crayon addresses the spectre of death head on, and how when grief gets too much imagination can be something of a salvation.

That makes it sound awfully heavy for something aimed at a holiday family crowd, which it would be if not for Howery and Reynolds as animals turned humans who match Levi's innocence and bring some of the film's biggest laughs for their slapstick abilities. But it's really Jermaine Clement as the blowhard would-be fantasy novelist librarian Gary who steals the film. Clement has the exact right amount of pompous self-import that makes his sinister but funny bad guy really work.
The film is only really let down by Deschanel who, having mastered the Manic Pixie Dream Girl role in work like Yes Man and New Girl, appears to be out of her depth playing the straight role, despite having done it previously in Elf.
What the film lacks in originality it makes up for in sheer fun, and heart. It's a film that will have all ages laughing, and in its more serious moments, addressing their own feelings on mortality. It's not a perfect film, but for those looking to take their kids to something that might have a positive influence, Harold and the Purple Crayon does the trick.
Harold and the Purple Crayon will be released in cinemas 31st July 2024