GC Movie Review - Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

By Rhonda Ridley

Personalized dolls, books, mega stores, a magazine, and made for TV films. All of this and I had never heard of the “American Girl” franchise. OMG, Where have I been? I guess, too busy being a grown up.

Now that a feature film is being released and I’ve increased my knowledge of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, I now know about the phenomenon; the fanatical girls, the long lines - as if their waiting to see their favorite celebrity and the ability to create identical clothes in order to match their dolls. I have 8 and 4 year old nieces. Again, where have I been?

As I sat at the press screening of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, I was unsure of what to expect. Not yet a parent, I usually find myself almost apprehensive when it comes to, “the more youthful movies”. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the spirit, energy, messages and passion of this movie.

Set in the 1934 Depression era, this film touches upon every sensory nerve in the body. Namely, because the Depression was real for families back then. Folks were losing their jobs, lining up at soup kitchens and when it got really rough families had to sell eggs - a sign that poverty had visited your home. Not my era, but I can just imagine the fear and angst of not knowing what the next second, minute or hour would bring. Fathers not feeling like the true providers of their families, mothers not having food to prepare for their families and children standing by watching their entire lives crumble as their families sometimes had to separate in order to make ends meet.

Yet, in the midst of this tragedy, we meet Kit Kittredge and instantly fell in love with her. Played by Abigail Breslin (sporting short blond hair), Margaret Madeline “Kit” Kittredge is a resourceful, rambunctious, and relentless nine year old whose family lives a comfortable life in Cincinnati, OH. One day as this aspiring journalist with a mind full of vision & dreams and a heart of compassion goes to help out at the local soup kitchen with her friends Ruthie (Madison Davenport) and Stirling (Zach Mills), to her surprise, she sees her father, played by Chris O’Donnell, in the line. Ashamed and embarrassed, Kit runs out.