Kit Kittredge: An American Girl – A very touching who dunnit during life in the depression
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl A very touching who dunnit during life in the depression
Rated: G Time: 1:31
Stars: Abigail Breslin, Stanley Tucci, Julia Ormond, Chris O’Donnell, Wallace Shawn, Willow Smith, Max Thieriot, and others.
Final Grade: A-
Overview: Life in the great depression wasn’t fun. It was rough. If you don’t believe me, ask someone that was there. People worked together for survival, people did things that we would consider strange acts of desperation, all in the name of survival and keeping their family together and in some cases just keeping their family members alive.
Wrapped in the under plot of a who dunnit, this movie is a very touching story of a part of life in the depression from the view of a 10 year old girl (Breslin) who has grand ambitions of becoming a reporter. So, she sets about to attempt to stake her niche to that of the depression from a kids eye view.
Along the way we are taken through many of the troubles and heartaches that people went through during the depression times. Times when people lost their jobs, families were split, homes were repossessed on a regular basis, hobo’s roamed the land, and survival was the name of the game. Her family is split when her father (O’Donnell) leaves their hometown of Cincinnati to try to find work in Chicago, leaving her home with mom (Ormond) and a house full of boarders, each with their own nefarious agenda. And when his letters home become fewer and farther between, it’s up to the household to hold things together and do the best they can.
During dad’s hiatus, the family hires two young hobo’s (Smith and Theiriot) to do odd jobs around the house. And, when a crime spree erupts, the world blames the hobo’s and it’s up to Kit to save them and find the real bad guys. And this spunky little 10-year old goes about her task like a tenacious little Nancy Drew, while all the time still trying to make her first crack into the world of getting published as a newspaper reporter with the world’s worst blunderbuss of an editor ( Shawn ).
As the movie winds down and the case is solved (sorry, no spoilers here), we’re reminded again how tenuous, fickle and random life and luck can sometimes be. That our true friends are sometimes the ones that it may not be the most politically correct to be seen with.
This movie will make you laugh. It will make you think. You’re going to feel the pain that some of the characters in the movie do while going through some of the hard times of that era. But, when the movie is over, you’re going to sit back and say that was one good flick!
This movie isn’t for younger highly impressionable kids, but for the rest of us, it’s a great show.
I’m Don Rima and that’s the way I saw it, From Where I Stand.
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