Kit Kittredge – An American Girl (2008/Warner/New Line Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture:
B-/C+/C Sound: B-/C+/C Extras: C- Film: C
After
several home video-only features, the first theatrical release of a live-action
adaptation of Valerie Tripp’s American Girl books is now on
Blu-ray and DVD. Kit Kittredge – An American Girl (2008) stars Abigail Breslin in
the title role of a young lady dealing with the prejudices and horrors of The
Great Depression and how she deals with it.
This includes trying to become a writer at a newspaper, but the film
tackles several ideas at once.
Unfortunately,
the continuous shots at the poor and vulnerable without response becomes as
annoying as it does an elongated illicit appeal to pity that trivializes the situation
and likely unintentionally. Not that it
needs to get political, but it becomes eventually unbelievable that the targets
would continue to take this over and over.
The one
thing that helps make this more watchable is the supporting cast, including Joan
Cusack, Julia Ormond, Wallace Shawn, Glenne Headly, Dylan Smith, Stanley Tucci,
Jane Krakowski and Chris O’Donnell, but when all is said and done, it is
average at best and not the best adaptation of one of Tripp’s books.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is a little softer than it should be on
Blu-ray, even softer in the anamorphically enhanced DVD and is especially bad
in the 1.33 X 1 pan & scan flipside on the DVD. Some of the production values and costumes look
good, so it is too bad all versions disappoint.
Both formats have Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes and are on the quiet, weak
side, with the Blu-ray only being slightly better than the DVD.
Extras
include digital copy capacity to you can have a copy of the film on portable PC
devices, minor DVD-ROM features on the DVD and three trailers for other
releases in the American Girl series,
including Molly – An American Girl On
The Homefront, which we reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4619/Molly+–+An+American+Girl+On
- Nicholas Sheffo
