Harold and the purple crayon

August 31 – September 2

3 matinée shows!

1:30 pm daily
Saturday, Sunday & Monday
2024 ‧ Fantasy / Comedy
G — 1 h 30 m

Harold and the Purple Crayon is the first film adaptation of the beloved children’s classic that has captivated young readers for decades. Inside of his book, adventurous Harold (Zachary Levi) can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life–and that his trusty purple crayon may set off more hilarious hijinks than he thought possible. When the power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands, it will take all of Harold and his friends’ creativity to save both the real world and his own.

The title character starts off as a cartoon figure living in a drawn world, kind of like the world of the books. But then, having been abandoned by his “old man” creator, he lands in the real world, and Harold and the Purple Crayon is one of those movies in which a live-action universe becomes the backdrop for an animated character like Garfield or Sonic. Except that the “character,” in this case, is the drawings that Harold does. Over the course of the movie, he draws a spare tire, a two-seater bike, pies and ice cream, skateboards and roller skates, a gleaming propeller plane, a giant lock and wrecking ball (to escape a prison), a griffin, and a spider-fly with vicious teeth.

The imaginative animation over the live-action shots is the movie’s highlight, as Harold can create anything with his purple crayon in the real world. With more colors and dimensions to play with, he draws everything from a plane they fly over Rhode Island to Mel’s imaginary pet, which is some sort of dragon-lizard hybrid. While much of the movie may feel well-worn, it’s the kind of children’s book that’s stayed on shelves through multiple generations. Even if the book’s story has been told and the movie’s format has been done before, a movie that reminds us to be imaginative — and that delivers some imaginative visuals to boot — can’t really get old.