“Harold and the Purple Crayon,” the famed 1955 children’s picture book, is getting the three-dimensional treatment nearly 70 years after its release.
The picture book, written and illustrated by Crockett Johnson, follows Harold, a child who can create whatever he can imagine, so long as he draws it with his magic purple crayon. The film adaptation opens with a short animated sequence that gives life to the book’s famous illustrations. But how far can a children’s picture book stretch across an hour and a half-long movie? Not very.
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“Harold and the Purple Crayon,” the famed 1955 children’s picture book, is getting the three-dimensional treatment nearly 70 years after its release.
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi, right, and Lil Rel Howery in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi, background left, Benjamin Bottani, left, Lil Rel Howery, background right, and Zooey Deschanel in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
After the film gets through the book’s story in about a minute, the narrator says that the book’s ending was not the close of Harold’s story. Cut to an animated adult Harold, all grown up but still in a onesie, with his purple sketched friends, Moose and Porcupine, as they venture around their two-dimensional existence and wonder what goes on in “the real world.”
After some brief exposition and short narration by Alfred Molina, Harold (Zachary Levi) draws a door labeled “Real World” and walks through it. He's then miraculously spit out in Providence, Rhode Island, as a “real” person. Moose and Porcupine, played by Lil Rel Howery and Tanya Reynolds, respectively, follow through the magical door shortly after. Together, they embark on a mission to find the book's narrator and author — the “old man,” as they call him — to ask him why he created them and their story.
What we get from there is something that feels like a hybrid of characters played by Amy Adams in “Enchanted” and Will Ferrell in “Elf”: an adult person who left their animated or fantasy world and is incredibly unfamiliar with reality. It’s an entertaining idea to see someone so naive navigating everyday life, but it feels rather derivative.
Much like her character in “Elf,” Zooey Deschanel plays Terry, a “real world” woman who is unenthused by our other-worldly protagonist’s antics for the better part of the movie. As the mother of the young and creative Mel (Benjamin Bottani), Terry hits Harold and Moose with her car, and eventually lets them stay at her house after some convincing from her son.
Predictably, shenanigans ensue as Harold lacks understanding of how to behave as the adult everyone sees him as (and wreaks havoc with his magic crayon). Levi is terribly earnest as Harold, making his hijinks more endearing.
Director Carlos Saldanha, an animation veteran who helmed the “Ice Age” franchise and the “Rio” movies, keeps the story moving with light humor and fun visuals sprinkled throughout. The imaginative animation over the live-action shots is the movie’s highlight, as Harold can still create anything with his purple crayon in the real world. With more colors and dimensions to play with now, he draws everything from a plane they fly over Rhode Island to Mel’s imaginary pet, which is some sort of dragon-lizard hybrid.
The plot, again, feels familiar when we meet the villain, librarian Gary, who wants to wield the powers of the crayon to feed his self-serving interests. Gary (Jemaine Clement) uses the crayon to make the fantasy world of his failing book come to life so he can get “revenge” on the publishers who turned it down. As far as conflict goes, it falls a little flat, but it does result in a sweet lesson of empathy; Gary says he just wanted to be in a place where he can fit in and Harold, using the crayon for good, creates that world for him.
While much of the movie may feel well-worn, I’d wager many copies of “Harold and the Purple Crayon” have seen better days. It’s the kind of children’s book that’s stayed on shelves through multiple generations. Even if the book’s story has been told and the movie’s format has been done before, a movie that reminds us to be imaginative — and that delivers some imaginative visuals to boot — can’t really get old.
“Harold and the Purple Crayon,” a Columbia Pictures release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for mild action and thematic elements. Running time: 92 minutes. Two stars out of four.
This image released by Sony Pictures shows a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi, right, and Lil Rel Howery in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi, background left, Benjamin Bottani, left, Lil Rel Howery, background right, and Zooey Deschanel in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Zachary Levi in a scene from "Harold and the Purple Crayon." (Sony Pictures via AP)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine televangelist, who calls himself the “anointed son of God” and once claimed to have stopped an earthquake, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of abuse of minors and human trafficking in a court arraignment that's the latest mark of his reversal of fortune.
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy and four of his co-accused were brought under heavy security to the regional trial court in Pasig city in metropolitan Manila for the human trafficking charges and was later arraigned by video from police detention by another court handling a separate non-bailable case of child abuse.
Lawyer Israelito Torreon told reporters his client Quiboloy entered not guilty pleas before the two courts because he's innocent of the charges. Quiboloy, 74, also asked the court to allow him to be detained in a hospital due to unspecified illnesses but no immediate decision was made.
Quiboloy, the preacher and founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ group, faces similar charges in the United States, where he has been included in the FBI’s most-wanted list.
The United States was expected to request the extradition of Quiboloy and his co-accused at some point, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said they have to first face justice in the Philippines. Quiboloy surrendered in his vast religious complex in the south Sunday in an operation involving more than 2,000 police officers.
In his heyday, Quiboloy was one of the most influential religious leaders in the Philippines with many followers and was regarded a political kingmaker, who backed the equally controversial former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Quiboloy and his co-defendants have been accused of recruiting young followers, who were lured to submit themselves to the “divine will” and promised scholarships and foreign travels but later forced to solicit money in spurious ways including house-to-house Christmas caroling and peddling pastries and biscuits.
The victims were threatened and beaten when they failed to reach collection quotas and defy orders, according to the charge sheet.
More alarmingly, Quiboloy and his key aides were accused of deceiving Filipino and foreign girls as young as 12 to serve as privileged “pastorals,” who were ordered to give Quiboloy a massage in his bedroom before they were raped by him. Some of the alleged victims testified in a Philippine Senate hearing earlier this year on Quiboloy’s alleged crimes, including a woman from Ukraine who testified by video because of the war in her country.
Quiboloy and his co-accused and their lawyers have denied any wrongdoing. They said they were ready to answer the charges in court. The raft of allegations, they said, was fabricated by critics and former members who were removed from his religious group.
After Quiboloy surrendered and taken into police custody in his 30-hectare (75-acre) religious complex in southern Davao city over the weekend, police said at least five other religious followers may file criminal complaints and testify against him.
Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said Quiboloy had in effect used religion as a cover for criminality. "This is one of the most extreme evils because faith is something sacred,” he told The Associated Press.
Quiboloy has made outrageous claims that sparked questions about his character but endeared him to his fanatical followers. In 2019, he claimed that he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines.
In the U.S., federal prosecutors announced charges against Quiboloy in 2021 for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God.” The allegations were made by former followers of Quiboloy.
The expanded indictment included charges of conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud, money laundering and visa fraud.
Quiboloy and eight other defendants were accused of recruiting women and girls, typically 12 to 25 years old, as “pastorals,” who cooked his meals, cleaned his houses, massaged him and traveled with him around the world. Minors as young as 15 were scheduled for “night duty,” when they were sexually abused by Quiboloy, according to the indictment.
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, center, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, leaves the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
People, in green helmet, charged with human trafficking, leave the Pasig Regional Trial Court, walking after Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, a Filipino preacher, in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
People, in green helmet, charged with human trafficking, enter the Pasig Regional Trial Court, walking after Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, a Filipino preacher, in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, enters the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, leaves the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, enters the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, arrives at the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, enters the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
