Harold and the Purple Crayon
Light, fluffy, and decidedly childish, Harold and the Purple Crayon is as safe and undemanding as a family flick can get.

Inspired by American illustrator Crockett Johnson’s bygone children’s book, Ice Age and Rio director Carlos Saldana takes the book’s very simple concept and gives it the feature length multiplex treatment, with live-action characters dabbling with a magic crayon that brings their wildly imaginative doodles to life.

And to tell you the truth it  doesn’t get any more complicated than that.

Shazam! star Zachary Levi has made a career out of playing loveable man-child types, and this film sees Levi continue this trend with aplomb. 

After a brief introduction to the picture book, we find out that Harold along with his friends Moose and Porcupine still exist within its pages, albeit much older but still colourfully juvenile in spirit. When Harold and his pals begin to wonder what lies beyond the safe confines of the book, they use the magic crayon to draw a doorway to the real world and set out on a mission to find the fabled author of their delightful little story.

As you’d expect, it’s not long before the three imaginary characters run into some real-world trouble, literally bumping into single mother Terry and her young son Mel who run over the mob in their car. Terri gets a puncture and Harold draws a new one, which confuses Terri more than a little. But Mel persuades Terri to let the guys stay for the night and they end up bedding down in her loft.

Enraptured by Harold’s infectious, child-like optimism and wonder, Terry and Mel help the trio adjust to the real life and find themselves whisked away on a creative and colourful adventure that sees them go head-to-head with a failed writer turned grotty librarian who wants to take the magic crayon and use it to bring his literary failure back to life.

While younger audience members will forgive the malnourished plot and rejoice as Harold’s stick-drawings and wacky characters come to life on screen, its appeal will wear off quickly for anyone over the age of ten.

To the be fair, there’s a top cast here with the excellent Zooey Deschanel playing befuddled mum Terry and Jemaine Clement doing his best to give us a proper bad guy just right for booing along the way. 

Likewise, Zachary Levi can’t be faulted as he expertly plays the eternal child within; it’s just a shame there’s a severe lack of story and minimal substance.

In the end, Harold and the Purple Crayon is a well-meaning jaunt into the realm of imagination, but frustratingly fizzles out instead of delivering the creative burst of fireworks required to make this a truly enjoyable adventure.