Home > Chicago Movies > Movie Review > Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

When her dad (Chris O’Donnell) leaves Depression-era Cincinnati to find a job in Chicago, 10-year-old Kit Kittredge (Abigail Breslin) helps her mom (Julia Ormond) board people (Joan Cusack, Stanley Tucci, Jane Krakowski) needing a place to stay. Kit also longs to write for the local paper, and a story about the friendly “hobo jungles” may be a career stepping stone at a time when hobos are being blamed for a string of robberies.

Big question: Can this family flick, based on the books tied to the American Girl doll collection, teach positive messages in competent ways and still offer something, anything to viewers over 11?

Skip it: In today’s economy there ain’t nothing wrong with teaching youngsters about poverty, but “Kit Kittredge” feels like a store-bought mix of “Little Rascals” and “Nancy Drew.” Too-young-to-complain doll-owners may like it fine, but only Tucci and Breslin deliver acceptable performances in a film that begs for someone to say, “In a very special holiday event …” before its TV ads.

Catch it: Because, at least, the movie reinforces the benefits of ambition, optimism and resisting misinformation. Of course, it also suggests that reading “Robin Hood” will implicate you in crimes and that you can’t take monkeys on trains, both of which we strongly hope to be untrue.

Bottom line: Nobody wants to rag on a kids’ movie, especially one that’s appropriate for day camp field trips and is pretty harmless compared to brain-melting junk like “Alvin and the Chipmunks.” But it’s still cheesier than the macaroni viewers ate before the movie, and makes you wonder why so many non-Pixar, G-rated movies talk at their demo instead of to them.

Bonus: Gotta love the nice parallel of a movie about people doing anything to make a buck starring so many actors (O’Donnell, Ormond, Cusack, Colin Mochrie of “Whose Line is It Anyway?”) clearly taking the job just to pay the bills.

What do you think of 'Kit'? Email me: mpais@tribune.com

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