For better and for worse, I'm the sort of person who'll give a chance to virtually any animated feature film, even if it clearly wasn't made for me, an adult man. That's doubly-true for 2D animation, and for independent or foriegn films, which makes American distributor GKIDS a company I hold in high regard with gratitude. When they released the children's movie "Eleanor's Secret" on home video (DVD only), I picked it up blindly. Not surprisingly, I didn't particularly enjoy the film, for a few reasons, but the chief one being that it's a children's movie. That in itself isn't a bad thing. I adore and respect virtually any film Disney or Pixar releases, for example. But while those films are marketed towards children, they are also typically smart enough, respectful enough, heartfelt or imaginative enough (usually not all at once) to allow anyone of any age to enjoy them on some level. By comparison, "Eleanor's Secret" is a movie starring a seven-year-old hero, with a story aimed at that demographic (4-6 years, I'd say), with little consideration for a wider audience. It can be refreshing to watch a wholesome movie like that, but even as a child, I would have been bored.With this type of movie, a lot rides on the imagination of the premise, competent writing, and distinct but approachable visuals. "Eleanor's Secret" struggles with all of these aspects. The premise is that Nathaniel, the young boy hero, visits an old house with his family (including a brat of an older sister) that belonged to his Aunt Eleanor, who recently passed away. While exploring the house, Nathaniel discovers a magic library filled with classic books, the characters of which start popping out to say hello, shrinking him down to their size to introduce themselves. This magic library protects them, and with Eleanor gone, Nathaniel has inheritted the collection, and must continue to be their gaurdian, less the characters (and their stories) disappear forever. What brave thing must Nathaniel do to save these books? He must read a sentence. But Nathaniel is young and can barely read, and is unable to do so, despite encouragement from Alice (the girl from "Alice in Wonderland"). The book's heroes realize this won't be easy, and while still in miniature form, Nathaniel and most of the characters get whisked out of the library, outside the house, along the beach and the grass. So they must brave the perils of their new small forms and get back to the library, before it's... too late?
Learning how to read and write can be daunting for young children, and can be an inspired subject for an adventure film. But I've never seen a premise so shoe-horned in, in a movie that thinks it's more magical and meaningful than it really is. One missed opportunity are the story characters, which include Alice, Pinocchio, Little Red Riding Hood, and others: the movie makes virtually no attempt to utilize the stories they came from in the events of the plot. Even Alice herself isn't all that recognizable by her personality or actions, and could have come from any fairy tale. It's frustrating to watch: why put all of these classic characters in if you don't use them properly?! Some of the characters have fun cartoonish personalities though, which might grab the attention of a young child.The visuals are distinct and colorful, but not necessarily all that pleasant (the round heads, small eyes and mouths creeped me out more than anything... and some of the concept art in the promotional posters look even more disturbing). Animation is reasonable, but workman-like. The entire production felt like a cheap American-or-British made-for-television feature, borderlining ambitious and mediocre, attractive and ugly. It's the sort of thing that would have been more successful in a storybook format.And the English voice-acting was pretty bad, with strong accents, with loud, upbeat and excitable acting that felt like it was talking down to a five-year-old to get their attention. Lip-syncing wasn't natural either. I was surprised to learn that the movie was in fact an American film, since it had not even a limited release in the USA; a French-language version allowed it a brief run in Europe only. I found the tone and art style for "Eleanor's Secret" to most closely recall an older Italian animated kids' film, released in America with the name "How The Tows Saved Christmas" by Buena Vista Entertainment, a subsidary of Disney. But that film, even with the same demographic, was better than this. For a more similar story, look up the live-action/animated hybrid "The Pagemaster." It's not easy to find wholesome movies for little ones, but a bit of research will uncover a good number that are better than this well-meaning but uninspired project.