Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.

"For a G-rated film, [Kit Kittredge: An American Girl]'s profound insight into the breakdown of society and families during the Depression and the country's subsequent rebirth is surprising," writes Ed Gonzalez at Slant. "Kit Kittredge is remarkable for the social consciousness its young characters evince, but the whole thing would feel dubious if Kit and her friends didn't behave like real children."

"Based on several American Girl stories about a 1930s cub reporter in Cincinnati, this dull theatrical debut especially disappoints because I'm usually fond of square, sepia-toned, period-costumed kids' movies (like Fly Away Home) that go nowhere at the box office," writes Ella Taylor in the Voice. "This one could go somewhere: As the opening weekend of Sex and the City showed, gee whiz, there's a distaff market out there, so why not tap the little ones?"

Updated through 6/20.

"Director Patricia Rozema - who with films like Mansfield Park and I've Heard the Mermaids Singing has shown herself to be a brilliant chronicler of the lives of women with artistic ambitions - does a terrific job of capturing Kit's world and allowing audiences to experience the joys and sorrows of the 1930s from a child's perspective," writes Alonso Duralde at MSNBC. "From Kit's embarrassment at seeing her father at a soup kitchen to her triumph over mean schoolmates who mock the less fortunate, the first two-thirds of Kit Kittredge often resembles Spike Lee's underrated Crooklyn or even Fellini's Amarcord as a memory piece that mixes sentimentality and warmth with cruelty and heartbreak."

Online listening tip. The IFC's Matt Singer and Alison Willmore discuss child actors.

Updates, 6/20: "[T]his classy, heart-on-its-sleeve movie is packed with laudable life lessons and Depression-era trivia, including the fact that the hobo sign of fish bones means really good garbage (particularly useful on the Upper East Side)," writes Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times. "But when you consider that a Kit doll, complete with book and accessories, will currently run you $105, the movie's insistence on the nobility of the indigent might be a tad more difficult to stomach."

"[I]n a climate where the TV shows of our childhood may be remembered with deep fondness, but old movies often get laughed at for being corny or overwrought - it's easy to forget that the past is a real place," notes Stephanie Zacharek in Salon. "What's remarkable about Kit Kittredge is the way it strives for emotional authenticity, and often achieves it. The picture manages to give a sense of what people's lives were like during the Depression, at least as far as those of us who didn't actually live through it can understand from the stories our parents told us."

"The movie has a surely unintended but inescapable current resonance in its tsunami of residential foreclosures," writes Michael Ordoña in the Los Angeles Times. "Kittredge personalizes the Great Depression in terms simple enough for young audiences by showing how loving families can be torn apart by circumstances beyond their control. This can be strong stuff for kids, but the film's humanistic approach preaches tolerance and hope." Also: Jason Chow has a quick profile of Abigail Breslin.

"I expected so much less," admits Roger Ebert. "I was waiting for some kind of banal product placement, I suppose, and here is a movie that is just about perfect for its target audience, and more than that. It has a great look, engaging performances, real substance and even a few whispers of political ideas, all surrounding the freshness and charm of Abigail Breslin, who was 11 when it was filmed."

"With Julia Roberts executive-producing, Mattel executive Ellen Brothers on board, and Ann Peacock (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) providing the screenplay, the project boasts a cast of heavyweights before even taking the stars into account," notes Meghan Keane in the New York Sun. "And there are stars aplenty, including Chris O'Donnell, Julia Ormond, Joan Cusack, Stanley Tucci and Jane Krakowski, all of whom pull their own weight and seem to thoroughly enjoy their time on-screen.... Kit Kittredge: An American Girl will be a welcome reprieve for parents in search of child-appropriate yet non-brainless entertainment on the big screen - though they may not appreciate the sequels that are likely to follow in this franchise."

For the AV Club's Scott Tobias, "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl languishes in G-rated earnestness, content to promote decency while soft-pedaling the outside forces that challenge it. It's all message, no tension."

Posted by dwhudson at June 18, 2008 3:48 PM