Tuesday, May 24, 2022
American Girl Movie Collection
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: *1* *2*
- Commentary: The "Mention" is only for one movie, but we watched all four with just about equal pleasure.
Although I'm sure there are excellent reasons to critique the movies, we just sat back and enjoyed them.
I understand yet another American Girl movie has been released, Chrissa. If Mom was still alive I don't think I'd be collecting this one because there is no obvious historical context and it looks like a highly moral 'tween version of Mean Girls. Much of the draw, for Mom and me, of this series, was the historical context.
Kit Kittredge [Directed by Patricia Rozema. Release Date: 2008]; Mom's favorite. It's the one that takes place during the Great Depression of the 1930s. This is the movie that elicited the most enthusiastic response from her, possibly because she was a child during that period. This movie so far, has been the only one to be reviewed by a major film critic, Roger Ebert. I've attached his review as the link for this movie.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Abigail Breslin Margaret Mildred 'Kit' Kittredge Chris O'Donnell Jack Kittredge Julia Ormond Margaret Kittredge Joan Cusack Lucinda Bond Stanley Tucci Jefferson Jasper Rene Berk Jane Krakowski May Dooley Madison Davenport Ruthie Smithens Austin MacDonald Roger Willow Smith Constance Wallace Shawn Mr. Gibson Glenne Headly Mrs. Howard Colin Mochrie Mr. Pennington
Felicity [Directed by Nadia Tass. Release Date: 2005]; My favorite. It's the one that takes place just prior to the American Revolution.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Shailene Woodley Felicity Merriman Marcia Gay Harden Martha Merriman Katie Henney Elizabeth Cole John Schneider Edward Merriman
Samantha [Directed by Nadia Tass. Release Date: 2004]; This one is the Christmas movie in this collection.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role AnnaSophia Robb Samantha Parkington Kelsey Lewis Nellie O'Malley Mia Farrow Mary Edwards Jordan Bridges Gardner Edwards
Molly [Directed by Joyce Chopra. Release Date: 2006].
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Maya Ritter Molly McIntire David Aaron Baker Dr. James McIntire Molly Ringwald Helen McIntire Thomas Brodie-Sangster Boy in Spelling Bee
Although I'm sure there are excellent reasons to critique the movies, we just sat back and enjoyed them.
I understand yet another American Girl movie has been released, Chrissa. If Mom was still alive I don't think I'd be collecting this one because there is no obvious historical context and it looks like a highly moral 'tween version of Mean Girls. Much of the draw, for Mom and me, of this series, was the historical context.
Apparently, American Girl movies continue to be made. I just scrolled through Amazon and several are out there, including some that are free to watch if you're an Amazon Prime member (and, of course, some require a rental fee, as well). I haven't watched any of the movies we acquired when Mom was alive since she died. All other links are to Wikipedia pages, I'm afraid, but the main article has some interesting information about the series history and almost every movie in the series has an additional Wikipedia link of its own. In time, I might scan through Amazon Prime (to which I subscribe) and check out the free movies. Should be interesting.
Update 8/26/21: Out of curiosity, I decided to check to see if any more American Girl (same link as in the title of this post) movies have been produced. As of 2017, 10 more, aside from the initial four which we own, have been released. Four of them appear as a four-pack on Amazon. Two are stand alones. Four, so far as I can tell, have only been released on Prime Video.
Will I be watching them? I doubt it, but you never know. They're pretty sleek productions.
Update 5/24/22: Yet another post published on 4/09/09 that "disappeared" and I had to recapture.
Labels: Christmas, coming-of-age1, female-director1, historical3, kids, marsha-gay-harden, period3, popcorn-and-soda3
