Friday, June 20, 2008

Movie review: Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

By John P. Meyer

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Bright, inquisitive and generous, Kit Kittredge is a natural born leader. But her happy childhood is abruptly interrupted when her father loses his car dealership and must leave Cincinnati to look for work. Kit and her mother Margaret are left to manage on their own, growing vegetables, selling eggs and even taking in an assortment of boarders including an itinerant magician, a vivacious dance instructor on the prowl for a husband and a zany mobile librarian. When a crime spree sweeps Cincinnati, all signs point to the local "hobo jungle." Kit, who always has her antennae out for a good news story, goes to see the hobo camp for herself and writes an article that creates a sympathetic portrait of the camp's residents. But, when Kit's mother and their boarders become the latest victims in a string of robberies, Kit's loyalties are tested. With all of their savings gone, the Kittredges face losing their house to foreclosure. Determined to recover the stolen money, Kit recruits her friends Ruthie and Stirling to help her track down the real culprit. Together they uncover a plot that goes far beyond Cincinnati!

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Question: can a movie based on a tony line of girl's dolls do anything for those of us who aren't into - say - voodoo or tea parties?

Answer: that depends on what your definition of "is" is. (No, wait, wrong Q/A...)

Answer (take two): yes.

To be more specific, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is actually a fairly entertaining family picture, featuring above-average acting, historical interest, period costumes, a cool treehouse, warm-blooded pets of various ilks, a whiff of mystery, a kid detective (a la Nancy Drew) and Wallace Shawn - a feature unto himself. Oh, and Joan Cusack running through the woods like a Monty Python twit. (Which I have to say constitutes the film's most embarrassing moment.)

In regard to the acting, it all hinges upon the lead role of Kit, whose doll bio explains that she's growing up during the Great Depression, her dad's out of work and they're about to have their home repossessed. Looks like most of the plotting has been taken care of, making Ann Peacock's screenwriting chores a bit less cumbersome.

(Just between us girls, I find it a bit creepy that someone can go to the store and buy a doll that already has a life history. What happens when one Ruthie doll meets up with another Ruthie in the outside world - would it be like you running into your younger self if you went back in a time machine to your 14th birthday party? ANNIHILATION OF SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM!!!)

"Eat your gruel, dear."

In any case, Kit is ably fleshed out and enthusiastically portrayed by acting wunderkind Abigail Breslin, who we interviewed when she visited Dallas during a press tour for the movie. Young Ms. Breslin brings animation and personality to the role of Kit, who aspires to write for the local (Cincinnati) newspaper. If she can only get past the gruff, crusty exterior to the soft inner sensitive-guy side of the paper's editor, Mr. Gibson (Wallace Shawn), she may get her shot at the journalistic big time. (Hey, it pays a penny a word! Not bad wages for 1934.)

Rounding out the cast are Julia Ormond as Kit's mom; Chris O'Donnell as her dad; Max Thieriot and Willow Smith, as hobo kids Will and Countee; and a houseful of eccentric boarders taken in to help cover the mortgage payments. These include Jane Krakowski as Miss Dooley, a vaudeville hoofer; Stanley Tucci as Jefferson Berk, a magician; and the aforementioned Joan Cusack as bookmobile librarian Miss Bond.

As for the desperate times depicted, I've got to admit noting uncomfortable similarities between events portrayed in this Depression-era tale and things as they are today, such as families having trouble making their house payments and folks selling their cars to reduce expenses. Much is made in the story about how hobos (read: homeless people) bear the onus for a crime wave going on in the neighborhood: as Kit puts it in her narration, "when times are tough, people like to blame someone." But as Kit's own investigation into the local hobo camp reveals, the real culprits are hiding out in plain sight, much closer to home.

"I'd give that early retirement offer careful consideration, pal."

The tough times depicted are rendered somewhat less threatening for the G-rated audience by a chipper, chin-up soundtrack (for which Joseph Vitarelli deserves credit). If the movie gets a bit preachy towards the end, oh well - maybe we could all benefit from a good sermon every now and again.

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• Arts > Movies / Film > Mainstream Movies