It's hard to dislike a tween picture that opens with Eleanor Roosevelt, but if explaining mortgage meltdowns to their tots doesn't sent parents screaming, the performances will.
Comment
07/04/08
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)
79
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:98
Fresh:77
Rotten:21
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: Refreshingly sweet and sincere, Kit's doll-and-book-inspired do-good mystery may be geared towards the tween girl but will please audiences of all ages.
Genre: Childrens
US Box Office: $17,533,514
Synopsis: In the first feature film based on the hugely popular American Girl® book series, Oscar® nominee Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) stars as a resourceful young girl whose bravery, compassion... [More]
Starring: Abigail Breslin, Stanley Tucci, Julia Ormond, Joan Cusack
Director: Patricia Rozema
Reviews for Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
The story isn't bad and it has a good message, but the pacing drains all of the energy and fun out of what could have been an exceptional family movie.
07/03/08
Quick -- name three subjects you think would result in a surefire family film hit. If you said The Great Depression, hobo culture, and the social pariah realities of both, you'll love this movie.
06/19/08
Kit Kittredge is hopelessly vanilla entertainment, and while it's sure to please some matinee attendees, it's going to feel like a demonic endurance ritual to the less inclined.
06/19/08
What could have been an oasis of quiet, thought provoking nostalgia turns out to be an utter bore. Yes, it's family friendly but it's also entertainment exterminating.
07/19/08
The packaging looks good for the most part. But there's still some assembly required.
06/19/08
Kit Kittredge is, as her movie and doll-line assert, An American Girl, and so she'll need to face up to her national history, embrace her responsibility, and learn a useful life lesson to boot.
07/02/08
Its realism is Hollywood at its most hokey.
07/03/08
Paved with such good intentions that it's a shame to have to criticize it. Alas, said good intentions cannot stop the picture from being a decidedly dull and eventless experience.
07/02/08
Younger girls will probably love Kit's antics and their parents won't find it too painful an experience, but it's still only a serviceable and fairly mediocre family film at best.
06/17/08
[I continue] to cling stubbornly to the dowdy notion that kids deserve better than a sugarcoated portrait of our past or, for that matter, our present.
06/19/08
Mostly, Kit Kittredge is exactly what you'd expect -- a treacle-sweet, simplistic story about maintaining a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity, keeping your family together, and not judging a book by its cover.
09/02/08
The movie would be more interesting if it weren't photographed in the amber glow we associate with Kodak commercials and other happily-ever-after exercises in nostalgia.
07/07/08
Why do so many family films think their young audiences are imbecilic?
06/20/08
Kit Kittredge is a dutiful bore.
07/02/08
Breslin keeps her cool and anchors the film in reality each time the camera crosses her face, but she fights a losing battle.
07/01/08
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.
06/19/08
With all the good will in the world, I couldn't warm up to Kit Kittredge. The movie is like a 1930s or 1940s short about Americans pulling together, stretched out to feature length.
07/02/08
It's all message, no tension.
06/19/08
By all means, teach our children about America’s storied past, but don’t use it to put lipstick on a narrative pig bred for selling bacon.
06/18/08
Latest News for Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
October 27, 2008:
RT on DVD: Zombie Strippers, Meet Kit Kittredge!
For the week leading up to All Hallow's Eve, there's a surprising dearth of new horror releases hitting DVD. Rest assured, though, titillation and scares can be found in a trio... More...
October 22, 2008:
A gem of a girl power tale for audiences of all genders, big and small, about a diminutive pre-feminist with a nose for news and an aversion to glass ceilings and the word 'no'. 
More...
July 06, 2008:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Hancock shows some attitude at the box office
Despite a critical panning, Hancock scores at the Box Office. More...
July 04, 2008:
Review Revue: Kit Kittredge Edges Hancock in Battle for Critics' Hearts
This week, box office dynamo Will Smith goes head to head with tweener tyke Abigail Breslin. But is Hancock's reluctant superhero routine any match for the intrepid adventures... More...
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