Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008) Movie Review

Sugar-coated and cute as a button, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a winning film for the whole family that will satisfy most moviegoers. Based of the American Girl doll and book series, the film inspires youngsters to be themselves, while dealing with real-world situations centered during the time of the Great Depression.

The story takes place in the mid-1930s in Cincinnati, Ohio, where 10 year-old Kit Kittredge (Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin) is an aspiring journalist that bangs out stories in her tree house on her old typewriter. With the majority of Americans out of work from the depression, many of Kit’s neighbors in her nice neighborhood begin loosing their homes and moving away. Eventually, Kit’s earnest father (Chris O’Donnell) loses his business and has leave Kit and her dedicated homemaking mother (Julia Ormond) in search of work in Chicago. The Kittredges open up their home to boarders to stay afloat on top of selling eggs and buying only needs instead of wants. A teenage hobo named Will (Max Thieriot) and his younger companion Countee (Willow Smith) work on the Kittredge estate for food, much to the disliking of the neighbors and the boarders living at the home. The boarders leasing their rooms from Mrs. Kittredge include a traveling librarian (Joan Cusack), a magician (Stanley Tucci), a flirtatious dance instructor (Jane Krakowski), a moody mother (Glenne Headley) and her curious son Sterling (Zach Mills), who is also good friends with Kit. After trying to turn in a tender stories of her friends Will and Countee along with their hobo community to a stubborn newspaper editor named Mr. Gibson (Wallace Shawn), Kit is denied publication but finds another story to chase of solving a mystery close to home. There has recently be a string of muggings and robberies in Cincinnati and surrounding communities that has authorities pointing fingers at the hobos, and Kit sets out to solve the case and prove that that the police and the society have been following the wrong clues.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a warm and sweet film that tackles real issues about maturity, poverty, race, and assumption. It also divulges through a little bit of history lesson for youngsters that are not too familiar with the time period of the 1930s in America. Director Patricia Rozema patiently moves the film is a simplistic style and literally lets the story tells itself. The choices by Rozema and screenwriter Ann Peacock are so pleasurably modest; that the look of the film is rich in essence of its time period, but still reflects something that you would see on the Lifetime or Hallmark Channel. However, Kit Kittredge is still a little gem that is a wonder for children to embrace even though it is a little overstuffed with substance and subplots.

Another fantastic appeal for this film is its star, young Abigail Breslin, who is becoming the Shirley Temple of this generation. After her Oscar nominated turn in Little Miss Sunshine, Breslin turned in nice supporting roles in No Reservations and Definitely, Maybe, then practically stole the show in last spring’s family themed Nim’s Island. With Kit Kittredge she gets top-billing and does disappoint with her solid and moving performance. Breslin is an adorable actress that the camera loves; she will become a Hollywood icon if she stays on the right track and continues to deliver good work. This film also has a nice supporting cast, which includes Julia Ormond, Chris O’ Donnell, Jane Krakowski, and the always terrific Stanley Tucci and Joan Cusack.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a girl power film that main audience in young females. However, this is a film for the whole family that I believe all youngsters should see and will enjoy. Though it has some tough themes to grasp, the film is clean and to the point, even though it is glazed in a zestful nature.