Kit Kittredge is not your average American Girl..she's the
old American Girl with other values and principles. She knows there’s a world out
there and lets her generosity help others. Even though the movie’s point of
view is idyllic, it doesn’t diminish its value.
With Abigail Breslin playing the
9 year-old Kit, the story becomes even more delightful.
The movie’s action happens in the
early years of the Great Depression in Cincinnati,
Ohio. We make acquaintance with
Kit whose dream is to become a journalist. Her shiny, golden hair is in
concordance with her joyful attitude. Even though the period in which the action
takes place is not the happiest of all, the movie maintains its charm.
As the whole community is affected by the Depression, Kit watches
how her father (Chris O’Donnell) loses his car dealership and is forced
to go to Chicago
in search for a new job. Kit and her mother (Julia Ormond) have to make it on
their own, at least until Mr. Kittredge returns.
Kit’s mother begins selling eggs in order to pay the bills
and lets boarders into the family’s home, as more and more hoboes make their appearance
in the neighborhood. The hoboes who stay with the family are no ordinary hoboes: Jefferson
Berk is a magician (Stanley Tucci), Miss Dooley is a dance instructor (Jane
Krakowski.) and Miss Bond, beautifully portrayed by Oscar nominee Joan
Cusack, is an eccentric librarian. The cast is enough reason to watch the
movie.
Kit is very preoccupied with her writing and tries to
convince the editor of the local daily (Wallace Shawn)
that she is indeed good enough to have her work published. She also gets
involved in a personal investigation, as a series of hobo crimes take place in
the community. Her family’s money gets stolen and Kit and her friends want to
prove that their friend hobo teen (Max Theriot) is not the guilty
one. Kit proves she’s smart and courageous, a real role model for all the
little girls out there. She doesn’t give up her dream and knows that the only
way to get through a bad situation is to stay strong and close to the people
she loves.
It’s interesting to see how the boarders who live at the Kittredge
family home become friends with Kit and manage to boost up the spirits
in that time of need.
The movie’s great quality is that it manages to show the
young viewers that they too are important, although grown ups don’t take them
seriously all the time. It’s a different point of view from all the rest of
teen movies which promote a pop, superfluous culture.
Kit Kittredge is a simple but complex story with strong
values and powerful personalities. It’s about keeping your innocence and making
the best of any situation, it’s about friendship which transcends all
differences, it’s about pursuing your dream by maintaining your confidence.
It’s about Kit Kittredge, the American Girl.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Directed by Patricia Rozema
Written by Ann Peacock and Valerie Tripp
Starring: Abigail Breslin, Joan Cusack, Chris O'Donnell,
Julia Ormond, Stanley
Tucci, Wallace Shawn and Madison Davenport.
Release date: 2 July 2008
