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Ralph Peters
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Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World
Ralph Peters

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Burt Prelutsky

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	GIFFONE

Review- Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery
by Susan Giffone [media reviewer/critic] 7/9/08

When I told a friend of mine, a mother, that I was going to attend a preview of "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl", and wondered aloud if it would be any good, she smiled and asked, "Does it matter?"

She had a good point.  The American Girl books, on which the movie is loosely based, are tremendously popular among girls between the ages of 8 and 12,  many of whom have parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who are willing to fork over almost $100 for a set of six books and an 18" doll.  Libraries keep multiple copies of each American Girl book on their shelves.  Since 1986, American Girl has sold 117 million books and 13 million dolls. American Girl magazine has a circulation of 650,000.  With momentum like this, executive producer Julia Roberts (yes, the Julia Roberts) need hardly have bothered to assemble a star-studded cast which includes such well known names as Stanley Tucci, Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, and Abigail Breslin.

The actors all do a splendid job.  Breslin is the spunky and determined Kit, a ten year old in Depression-era Cincinnati.  Her father, affably portrayed by Chris O'Donnell, loses his car dealership and struggles to find work. Kit's mother, (Julia Ormond), gracious, generous and determined to keep the house, takes in boarders to pay the mortgage.  Kit's best friend Ruthie (Madison Davenport) comes across exactly as Valerie Tripp, author of the original Kit books, wrote her, an imaginative girl who "has a princess for every occasion."  Mrs. Kittredge's curmudgeonly Uncle Kendrick is accurately, if flatly, drawn as an arrogant conservative, suspicious of hoboes and harshly critical of Roosevelt's New Deal.  Stirling Howard is rendered winsomely by Zach Mills, fumbling and nerdy in knee pants and argyle socks.  And the wonderful Glenne Headley shines as Mrs. Howard, Stirling's helicopter mom, a sort of young Maggie Smith.

The film's production values are all top-notch: the sets and costumes easily take us back to 1930's Ohio.  The cinematography makes careful use of light and color, capturing both the subdued amber tones of the era as well as the bright luminescence of Breslin's hair and her expressive face.  The film has the sanitized, down-home feel of a Hallmark Hall of Fame production, but the plot is pure Afterschool Special.  That is, it blends moralizing with a certain amount of silliness, thereby blunting its own message.  The characters from Valerie Tripp's books who manage to make it to the big screen, emerge intact. But screenwriter Ann Peacock has entirely removed Aunt Millie, who is central in book four of the series, and made Uncle Hendrick into a mere cardboard cutout.  Stan Smithens' role as a kind and supportive neighbor is also left out. 

This is where the word "mystery" comes into the title.  Peacock removes some of the boarders and adds more colorful ones: a mobile librarian (Joan Cusack) and a man-hungry dancer (Jane Krakowski); a magician and his shifty brother.  The role of a young hobo named Will is expanded to be central to the plot as Kit, Ruthie and Stirling work to clear his name when he is accused of robbing the Kittredge family and their boarders.

Despite the array of cinematic talent, the movie fails to live up to its promise. The books focus on Kit's daily life and struggles as the country is plunged deeper into depression.  Without utilizing excessive inner monologue, Tripp shows us how Kit grows up.  Her world expands, and she realizes that she has taken much for granted.  She begins to see herself as an integral part first of a family, then a community, and finally of an entire nation struggling to get back on its feet.  The movie, while it shows Kit growing up and becoming less self-centered, focuses instead on the town's prejudice against hoboes and Kit's work to free an unjustly accused member of a marginalized minority.  To add futher to the 21st century emphasis on inclusiveness and multiculturalism, an entirely superfluous African-American character is thrown incongruously into the mix.

These changes won’t make any difference to the film's target audience: 8-12 year old girls.  This movie will be seen by droves of girls and those who love them.  And why not?  It's old-fashioned, educational, squeaky clean, and good to look at.  There's a little something for everyone here.  Kit's father is involved, faithful and honorable.  Lovely Julia Ormond, with a face reminiscent of Dorothea Lange's iconic photograph Migrant Mother, carries on bravely and maintains a sense of humor.  In this day of desperate housewives, it's nice to think that Mrs. Kittredge is missing her husband and not plotting to seduce the heart-meltingly good-looking young hobo (former GAP model Max Theriot).  Stanley Tucci, as the magician, manages to be hilarious despite scant lines, and certainly Peacock can be forgiven for expanding the role of Mr. Gibson, editor of the Cincinnati Register, in order to exploit the talents of the eminently watchable Wallace Shawn.  Fairness, generosity, kindness and honesty triumph, and evil is punished.  And finally, a happy ending worthy of Disney Studios.  If you're not a stickler for completely faithful adaptations of the original work, there is much to like. ExileStreet

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