Harold and the Purple Crayon animation

"[It] is only a film about creativity, not a creative film. Try as he might, Harold can’t draw himself the special something this story needs" 

"There are quite a few elements to like about 'Harold', including its smart casting, entertaining meta-concepts, and its ability to find humor in chaos, but it's a film with nearly as many conceptual, narrative, and thematic misses as hits" 

"Watching the movie, I kept wondering when the real story — the one I’d loved — would start; somehow, it never did. What happened to it? By the time the movie was over, I had suffered the 9-year-old’s once-upon-a-time equivalent of PTSD" 

"A powerless, unimaginative ode to the power of imagination (...) Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel and Jemaine Clement co-star in a generic adaptation of the a picture book" 

"Star Levi is warm screen presence that kids of all ages will be drawn to (...) For now, it’s hard to see how this can become a franchise, but if the film tells us nothing else, Harold, with his purple crayon or not, can be surprisingly resourceful" 

"If you genuinely care for your kids, you will give this movie a wide berth and use the ticket money to buy and read Crockett’s original book and its follow-ups (...) Rating: ½ (out of 4)" 

"Despite the appeal of star Zachary Levi, it’s unlikely the film will have the same staying power"