Review of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008) by Danielle S — 09 Nov 2008

Kit Kittredge (Abigail Breslin) is a friendly young girl enjoying life in the year 1934. Kit's family is part of a fairly wealthy social circle, but times are starting to get very hard. Kit's father (Chris O'Donnell) has lost his job, and is forced to go to Chicago to seek work.

In the meantime, Kit and her mother (Julia Ormond) are forced to take in boarders in order to pay the mortgage. Very quickly, the Kittredge household becomes filled with a variety of eccentric figures, including a clever magician (Stanley Tucci), a loopy dancer (Jane Krakowski) and a mobile librarian (Joan Cusack).

Just as Kit is getting used to her new situation, something mysterious starts happening. Robberies are beginning to take place in Kit's home town, and many are blaming members of the hobo community.

In fact, one of the key suspects is a young man named Will (Max Thieriot), a hobo who has been doing work for the Kittredge family in exchange for a little money and food. However, Kit is convinced of Will's innocence, and determines to solve the mystery.

The film is a gentle and thoughtful little period piece that somewhat resembles an exceptionally good Nancy Drew story. Breslin is indeed the best thing about the movie, never once coming across as too contemporary for the time.

But she's also so cinematically precocious, so completely a work of manufactured motion picture moralizing that she fails to come across as a real kid. Cusack usually delivers first-rate performances, but this one is a disappointment.