Preview: Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery (2008)

• Poster: C-; C+

Review:

Attempting to look like a another Nancy Drew, the poster lacks any narrative impact and does very little to excite the eyes. The only interesting part is that it's impossible to tell that the blond girl in the poster is Little Miss Sunshine contestant Abigail Breslin

Like the second trailer for this film, the second poster improves on the first. It's still rather childish in scope, but that fits perfectly with the Nancy Drew-target audience.

• Trailer: C; C+

Review:

As with most teasers of films that are more than a year away from the cineplex, Kit Kittredge shows us nothing from the film, but celebrates the film's heritage and reveals Abigail Breslin as the star. All of this is revealed against the backdrop of a bunch of girly souvenirs and images, which aren't likely to even be included in the finished product.

Now that we have more to look at, it's clear that the film is going to try and and expose young girls to a portion of our history where spunky girls were all trying to imitate Shirley Temple. What is interesting is that Breslin has gone to great lengths to create entirely different looks and personas with each of her characters. With this, Definitely, Maybe and Nim's Island, she could be a huge box office draw for an industry that's woefully underattended by young female audiences.

Oscar Prospects:

As it stands, with the release date and the target demo of young girls, there's little likelihood this is going to be an Oscar contender in 2008.

Release Date:

• June 20, 2008

Full Review Synopsis:

I have not seen this film.

-Wesley Lovell (June 23, 2007) Original

-Wesley Lovell (January 12, 2008) New Trailer; New Poster

-Wesley Lovell (March 1, 2008) New Release Date (changed from: 7/2/08)

-Wesley Lovell (April 13, 2008) New Poster