Fifteen years after Spike Jonze thought about bringing HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON to life, it appears the film is finally on its way to being made, though Jonze and his former vision are nowhere to be found.
Rather, the book will be adapated a CGI feature (NOT a live-action hybrid, thank god), and the script has been written (by DEEP IMPACT’s Michael Tolkin) and re-written (by SHREK THE THIRD’s Josh Klausner), and the tone is said to be similar to A NEVERENDING STORY.
Not a bad start. For those of you who had a neglected childhood, in the story, Harold uses his purple crayon to create fantasy worlds all his own, and in the movie, he does the same, but realizes he’s being to selfish with his crayon, and starts using it to help his friends and family as well.
This is one kids movie concept I can actually get behind. It’s one of the more creative books I encountered in my childhood, and has the potential for a hell of a lot of cool animated adventures. I’d almost like to see Pixar take the reigns here, but at least it’s being handled by Sony Animated and not Dreamworks, lest Harold be transformed into some sort of smirking animal.