Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Encyclopedia
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a 2008 American comedy-drama film
directed by Patricia Rozema
. The screenplay
by Ann Peacock (based on the Kit Kittredge stories by Valerie Tripp
) focuses on the American Girl
character Kit Kittredge, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio
during the Great Depression
. The film is the first in the American Girl film series
to have a theatrical release; the first three were television movie
s. Julia Roberts
served as one of the executive producers here (as she did with the TV movies).
) is determined to become a reporter, and she writes articles on the typewriter in her attic while drama unfolds beneath her. The mortgage on her house is about to be foreclosed because her father (Chris O'Donnell
) lost his car dealership and couldn't keep up with the payments. He has gone to Chicago, Illinois to search for work, and to make some income her mother (Julia Ormond
) takes in an odd assortment of boarders
, including magic
ian Mr. Berk (Stanley Tucci
), dance instructor Miss Dooley (Jane Krakowski
), and mobile library
driver Miss Bond (Joan Cusack
). Locally there have been reports of muggings and robberies supposedly committed by hobo
s. Kit investigates and meets young Will (Max Thieriot
) and Countee (Willow Smith
), who live in a hobo
jungle near the Ohio River
and Erie Lackawanna Railway
. Kit writes a story about the camp and tries to sell it to Mr. Gibson (Wallace Shawn
), the mean editor of the Cincinnati newspaper, but he has no interest in the subject. She adopts a dog, her mother buys chickens, and Kit sells their eggs. Then a locked box containing her mother's treasures is stolen, and a footprint with a star matching the one on Will's boot is discovered, making him the prime suspect. The sheriff goes to find Will and Countee. However, Will and Countee have left the hobo jungle. It's up to Kit and her friends Stirling (Zach Mills
) and Ruthie (Madison Davenport
) to gather enough evidence to prove that Will is innocent and Mr. Berk is the guilty party. Kit becomes a local hero. They found out that Countee has been pretending to be a boy. On Thanksgiving the hobos bring food to Kit's mother and Kit's father returns home. Mr. Gibson arrives to show Kit she is in print in Cincinnati's major daily newspaper.
reported that 78% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 96 reviews, and that 96% of top critics gave positive reviews (all but one review in that section was positive), and gave it a golden tomato for best kids film of 2008. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 63 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
said, "It has a great look, engaging performances, real substance and even a few whispers of political ideas", and in the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis said, "this classy, heart-on-its-sleeve movie is packed with laudable life lessons." Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News
called it "resolutely old-fashioned" and thought "the script feels a little stiff and moralistic at times," but added, "it's hard to fault a film with such an intelligent, good-hearted heroine."
Megan Basham of World Magazine
said, "Even if young fans can't relate the struggles in the movie to their own life, Kit still offers more than the shows and movies typically aimed at the tween girl market. Besides the simple educational value of giving them a picture to connect with their history lessons, the film also focuses on more significant themes than the materialism and prettiness championed."
and Blu-ray Disc
on October 28, 2008, the only special feature being American Girl trailers.
There are also enhanced DVD-ROM features including an HBO First Look and deleted scenes.
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
directed by Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema is a Canadian film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Rozema was born in Kingston, Ontario and raised in Sarnia, Ontario. Her parents, Jacoba Berandina and Jan Rozema, were Dutch Calvinists. Television was severely restricted and she didn’t go to a movie theatre until she...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Ann Peacock (based on the Kit Kittredge stories by Valerie Tripp
Valerie Tripp
Valerie Tripp is a children's book author, best known for her work with the American Girl series.She grew up in Mount Kisco, New York with three sisters....
) focuses on the American Girl
American Girl (company)
American Girl is an American line of 18-inch dolls released in 1986 by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray ten-year-old girls of a variety of ethnicities living in various times throughout American history. They are sold with accompanying books told from the viewpoint of the girls...
character Kit Kittredge, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The film is the first in the American Girl film series
An American Girl films
American Girl is a line of books, dolls, and accessories based on pre-teen girl characters from various periods. Several of the characters from the American Girl books have since had their stories adapted into movies.-Synopsis:...
to have a theatrical release; the first three were television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
s. Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
served as one of the executive producers here (as she did with the TV movies).
Plot
In June 1934, Kit Kittredge (Abigail BreslinAbigail Breslin
Abigail Kathleen Breslin is an American teen actress. She is one of the youngest actresses ever to be nominated for an Academy Award....
) is determined to become a reporter, and she writes articles on the typewriter in her attic while drama unfolds beneath her. The mortgage on her house is about to be foreclosed because her father (Chris O'Donnell
Chris O'Donnell
Christopher Eugene "Chris" O'Donnell is an American actor. He has played Robin in two Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Charlie Simms in Scent of a Woman, Finn Dandridge in Grey's Anatomy, Peter Garrett in Vertical Limit, and more recently, Jack McAuliffe in The Company. O'Donnell...
) lost his car dealership and couldn't keep up with the payments. He has gone to Chicago, Illinois to search for work, and to make some income her mother (Julia Ormond
Julia Ormond
Julia Karin Ormond is an English actress who has appeared in film and television and on stage.-Early life and education:...
) takes in an odd assortment of boarders
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
, including magic
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
ian Mr. Berk (Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
), dance instructor Miss Dooley (Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
), and mobile library
Bookmobile
A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to...
driver Miss Bond (Joan Cusack
Joan Cusack
Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....
). Locally there have been reports of muggings and robberies supposedly committed by hobo
Hobo
A hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century. Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not...
s. Kit investigates and meets young Will (Max Thieriot
Max Thieriot
Maximillion Drake "Max" Thieriot is an American actor. During the 2000s, he appeared in several Hollywood films, including My Soul to Take, Catch That Kid, The Pacifier, Nancy Drew, Jumper, and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.-Career:Thieriot was signed to talent manager Don Gibble after taking...
) and Countee (Willow Smith
Willow Smith
Willow Camille Reign Smith , often known simply as Willow, is an American child actress and singer. She is the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and the younger sister of Jaden Smith. Smith made her acting debut in 2007 in the film I Am Legend and later appeared in Kit Kittredge: An...
), who live in a hobo
Hobo
A hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century. Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not...
jungle near the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
and Erie Lackawanna Railway
Erie Lackawanna Railway
The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie–Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad...
. Kit writes a story about the camp and tries to sell it to Mr. Gibson (Wallace Shawn
Wallace Shawn
Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
), the mean editor of the Cincinnati newspaper, but he has no interest in the subject. She adopts a dog, her mother buys chickens, and Kit sells their eggs. Then a locked box containing her mother's treasures is stolen, and a footprint with a star matching the one on Will's boot is discovered, making him the prime suspect. The sheriff goes to find Will and Countee. However, Will and Countee have left the hobo jungle. It's up to Kit and her friends Stirling (Zach Mills
Zach Mills
Zachary "Zach" Mills is an American teen actor.-Personal life:Zach was born in Lakewood, Ohio, to Kerry and Patrick. His father is from Cleveland, Zach's mother is from New York, which is where Zach performed his first professional acting job at the age of 7. Zach has two older half brothers who...
) and Ruthie (Madison Davenport
Madison Davenport
Madison Danielle Davenport is an American teen actress and singer, best known for her role as Quillo in Over the Hedge. Davenport has also starred in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl as Kit's best friend Ruthie Smithens....
) to gather enough evidence to prove that Will is innocent and Mr. Berk is the guilty party. Kit becomes a local hero. They found out that Countee has been pretending to be a boy. On Thanksgiving the hobos bring food to Kit's mother and Kit's father returns home. Mr. Gibson arrives to show Kit she is in print in Cincinnati's major daily newspaper.
Cast
- Abigail BreslinAbigail BreslinAbigail Kathleen Breslin is an American teen actress. She is one of the youngest actresses ever to be nominated for an Academy Award....
as Margaret Mildred 'Kit' Kittredge - Chris O'DonnellChris O'DonnellChristopher Eugene "Chris" O'Donnell is an American actor. He has played Robin in two Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Charlie Simms in Scent of a Woman, Finn Dandridge in Grey's Anatomy, Peter Garrett in Vertical Limit, and more recently, Jack McAuliffe in The Company. O'Donnell...
as Jack Kittredge - Julia OrmondJulia OrmondJulia Karin Ormond is an English actress who has appeared in film and television and on stage.-Early life and education:...
as Margaret Kittredge - Max ThieriotMax ThieriotMaximillion Drake "Max" Thieriot is an American actor. During the 2000s, he appeared in several Hollywood films, including My Soul to Take, Catch That Kid, The Pacifier, Nancy Drew, Jumper, and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.-Career:Thieriot was signed to talent manager Don Gibble after taking...
as Will Shepherd - Joan CusackJoan CusackJoan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....
as Miss Lucinda Bond - Jane KrakowskiJane KrakowskiJane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
as Miss May Dooley - Madison DavenportMadison DavenportMadison Danielle Davenport is an American teen actress and singer, best known for her role as Quillo in Over the Hedge. Davenport has also starred in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl as Kit's best friend Ruthie Smithens....
as Ruthie Smithens - Zach MillsZach MillsZachary "Zach" Mills is an American teen actor.-Personal life:Zach was born in Lakewood, Ohio, to Kerry and Patrick. His father is from Cleveland, Zach's mother is from New York, which is where Zach performed his first professional acting job at the age of 7. Zach has two older half brothers who...
as Stirling Howard IV - Austin MacDonaldAustin MacDonaldAustin MacDonald is a Canadian teen actor, best known for him role as Roger in 2008 film Kit Kittredge: An American Girl and as Andy in the Roxy Hunter series film.-Filmography:-Awards/Nominations:-External links:...
as Roger - Willow SmithWillow SmithWillow Camille Reign Smith , often known simply as Willow, is an American child actress and singer. She is the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and the younger sister of Jaden Smith. Smith made her acting debut in 2007 in the film I Am Legend and later appeared in Kit Kittredge: An...
as Countee (Constance) - Wallace ShawnWallace ShawnWallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
as Mr. Gibson - Glenne HeadlyGlenne HeadlyGlenne Aimee Headly is an American actress of film, stage and television.-Early life:Glenne Headly was born in New London, Connecticut and her first years were spent living under the care of her mother in San Francisco and her maternal grandmother in Pennsylvania...
as Mrs. Howard - Stanley TucciStanley TucciStanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
as Mr. Jefferson Jasper Rene Berk - Colin MochrieColin MochrieColin Andrew Mochrie is a Scottish Canadian actor and improvisational comedian, most famous for his appearances on the British and US versions of television improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?.-Early life:...
as Mr. Pennington - Kenneth WelshKenneth WelshKenneth Welsh, CM is a Canadian film and television actor . He is known to Twin Peaks fans as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle, and has more recently played the father of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.In 1984 he was nominated for a Genie Award as Best Actor for his...
as Uncle Hendrick - Brieanne JansenBrieanne JansenBrieanne Jansen is a Canadian-born child actor who made her debut in the 2008 film Kit Kittredge: An American Girl alongside Academy Award nominee, Abigail Breslin as well as actress Madison Davenport.- Personal life :...
as Frances Stone - Erin Hilgartner as Florence Stone
- Martin RoachMartin RoachMartin Jamie Roach is a Canadian actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles on Aaron Stone as T. Abner Hall and in the films Cube Zero, Diary of the Dead, and The Lookout.-Filmography:* Producing Parker as Dr...
as Hobo Doctor - Elisabeth Peres as Classmate #1
- Jordan Rackley as Classmate #2
Critical reception
The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. As of January 2, 2009, the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 78% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 96 reviews, and that 96% of top critics gave positive reviews (all but one review in that section was positive), and gave it a golden tomato for best kids film of 2008. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 63 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
said, "It has a great look, engaging performances, real substance and even a few whispers of political ideas", and in the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis said, "this classy, heart-on-its-sleeve movie is packed with laudable life lessons." Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
called it "resolutely old-fashioned" and thought "the script feels a little stiff and moralistic at times," but added, "it's hard to fault a film with such an intelligent, good-hearted heroine."
Megan Basham of World Magazine
World magazine
World Magazines are magazines about specific foreign countries that help people of different countries, languages, and cultures to understand that country...
said, "Even if young fans can't relate the struggles in the movie to their own life, Kit still offers more than the shows and movies typically aimed at the tween girl market. Besides the simple educational value of giving them a picture to connect with their history lessons, the film also focuses on more significant themes than the materialism and prettiness championed."
Home video release
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on October 28, 2008, the only special feature being American Girl trailers.
There are also enhanced DVD-ROM features including an HBO First Look and deleted scenes.