Stacey Tucci and Joan Cusack in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.

Kittredge kid-gloves the Depression

KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL

By Curtis Woloschuk

I think you’ll join me in saying, thank God there’s finally a kids’ movie that documents decent Americans’ struggle against the dreaded hobo menace.

Set in 1934, Patricia Rozema’s film (based on the American Girl dolls and books) offers a squeaky-clean take on the Great Depression. When ten-year-old Kit’s (Abigail Breslin) father leaves Cincinnati in search of work, her mother (Julia Ormond) is forced to take in boarders. Amongst the eccentric arrivals are a travelling magician (Stanley Tucci) and an incompetent mobile librarian (Joan Cusack). Meanwhile, the precocious and indomitable Kit harbours dreams of becoming a reporter. However, her would-be editor won’t tolerate her pro-hobo views. Particularly since the hobo community is suspected in an ongoing crime wave.

This rash of crimes becomes the focus of the film’s third act, abruptly transforming proceedings into a Nancy Drew-indebted caper. Perhaps concerned about keeping kids’ attention, Rozema and screenwriter Ann Peacock add bumbling villains, complex schemes, frantic chases and a shrieking monkey to the mix when, in fact, the story really didn’t need any help.

Granted, Kit Kittredge’s take on the Depression is remarkably sanitized. The only segregation concerns dirt-dusted hobos and the worst fate imaginable is being forced to sell eggs. Yet, despite keeping the kid gloves on, the film ably depicts the tremendous strains put on a family in dire times and also packs a potent message concerning the ability of individuals to rise to any occasion and not let circumstances beat them.

If only it could’ve made its points without trotting out a monkey.

WALL-E

By Curtis Woloschuk

After fulfilling the minimum requirements for a Pixar flick (cute creations and comic antics), director Andrew Stanton pulls out all the stops and delivers the requisite scope, vision and sense of wonder to transform the visually-stunning WALL-E into one of the better sci-fi films we’ve seen in a little while.

In a surprisingly dystopian future, everyone has jetted off into space and left little robot WALL-E home alone to clean up the considerable mess wrought from human over-consumption. Left to his own devices, he’s developed a taste for trinkets and romantic musicals. When a fembot named EVE returns to Earth on a routine patrol, WALL-E becomes intent on holding “hands” with her. This simple pursuit leads him into the stars and he soon finds the future of humanity resting on his tiny metal shoulders.

WALL-E refreshingly shirks the current trend in animated features to load up on top-end vocal talent. In fact, the two leads are incapable of saying much more than each other’s acronyms. Consequently, the film’s first half unfolds like a Charlie Chaplin silent film and provides a stellar example of visual storytelling. Just as our hero’s initial solitude is heartbreaking, his subsequent haphazard courtship of the ultra-destructive EVE is unspeakably charming.

While the film’s surplus of physical comedy will keep kids giggling, its pointed message concerning rampant consumerism will likely register more with the adults in attendance. Meanwhile, sci-fi aficionados will be treated to numerous references, including a couple of nods to Stanley Kubrick.

Once again, Pixar comes up with something for everyone.