The 1955 children’s classic picture book “Harold and the Purple Crayon” serves as a springboard for this eponymous metafiction directorial debut of Carlos Saldanha. In the most reflexive instance, the film follows Harold, a little boy who is not so little anymore and has tumbled out of his crayon world in search of his parent or creator. We see Harold inhabiting two worlds– the world of the picture book and the real world so the film mingles two diverse forms of filmmaking.
Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The much-loved little boy from the picture book, Harold, has grown up surrounded by his two animal friends, Moose and Porcupine. As Harold grows up, his crayon world becomes even more detailed and complicated from a fundamental doodled form, a marker of the development of his moral and aesthetic sense. Like any curious being, he is plagued by questions akin to Blake’s “Who made thee?”– Who made the world, and who made him?
The narrator of the story tells Harold that he is the ‘old man’—the man who created him, in fact, who looked like him but is now bearing the marks of senescence. Both are inhibitors of different dimensions—one living solely in a picturebook and the other in the real world, which is not a living product of simulation or imagination—so there is no real connection between the two.
Harold tries to change it. With his purple crayon, he draws a door and ventures out of it to embark on a journey to find his creator. Moose, too, tumbles down after him, followed by Porcupine a bit later. Interestingly, none of the two –Moose and Porcupine – sustain their bestial forms in the real world. In the real world, they appear as eccentric humans – a furry-clothed guy and a punk girl with a purple mohawk.
How do Harold and Moose get rescued?
After tumbling out of the crayon world, Harold and Moose take some time to make sense of the new world that encompasses them. They find an old man in a park. But as Harold tries to embrace him, thinking him to be his father, he gets shooed away. It’s a lesson in the social contract they have entered into. With his purple crayon, Harold draws a tandem bike, and the two pedal away in search of Harold’s old man.
However, once on the main road, their bike gets hit by a car. The driver, Terry, profusely apologizes for running into them, but Terry faces damage. Terry’s car tire was punctured in the accident, too. Her son, Mel, who was also in the car, watches in amusement as Harold draws a tire in the air with his purple crayon, and an actual tire, albeit totally purple and not very in line with the car’s style, materializes before his eyes.
Mel convinces Terry to let Harold and Moose stay in the vacant room they have in their attic. Despite Terry’s initial reluctance, Harold and Moose are given a roof to stay under for the night until they find their old man. The following day, Terry is a little annoyed to see a whole lot of pies on her kitchen table and her house painted purple overnight. However, she tries her best to appear nonchalant. Terry asks Mel to leave for school and asks the other two men to see their way out of her house. Before leaving, Harold breaks off a piece of his crayon and gifts a part to Mel, who is already familiar with its magical powers.
How does Harold create a ruckus around the town?
In search of his old man, Harold, and Moose follow Mel into the local library where the head librarian, Gary Natwick, has just delivered a flop show, pitching his fledgling fantasy novel idea to his patrons. Gary is secretly in pursuit of Terry, as evident by the character of a warrior princess in his novel. The character is called Zerri and, as Harold points out, is a lookalike of Terry.
The three manage to woo Gary and get him to use his computer internet to locate Harold’s old man. However, the search is not fruitless, as Harold and Moose give generic descriptions of the old man. Gary jokingly asks Harold to get a plane and write messages for the man in the sky so that he can know that his offspring are searching for him. Unbeknownst to Gary, Harold has the same magical power to make it happen in the real world.
Harold draws a plane and leaves Terry’s numbers hovering in the sky for his old man to note. However, Harold does not realize that the numbers are on full display in front of the whole city. Terry begins to receive calls while at work from old men in pursuit of a romantic relationship. Harold and Moose find Terry at her workplace. She appoints them to help her with her impending moving chores, but they get her fired for being clumsy. Terry has nothing significant to lose because she hated the job anyway. Later in the evening, the four arrive at the town square, and Harold makes it light for Terry by drawing a piano in thin air.
Who is Harold’s old man?
Perhaps the most meta-fictional moment in the film arrives when Gary meets Harold and Moose and sheds light on the man they are searching for. As a knowledgeable librarian, Gary readily identifies Harold and is sure he has spilled over from a very renowned book. Gary holds out the book Harold and the Purple Crayon to Harold and Moose and explains that the pure form of imagination has brought Harold to life, along with Moose and Porcupine.
Harold realizes that the ‘old man’ he has been looking for is the book’s author, Crockett Johnson. After being gone for quite a while, Porcupine reappears and is overjoyed to reunite with her friends. However, their fun and frolics come to a halt as they are arrested and put behind bars. It is not too long before they break out, of course, with the help of a wrecking ball. After the prison break, the three ride a bike drawn by Harold to arrive at Crockett Johnson’s house.
However, it is here that Harold learns that Crockett Johnson has long been dead. Mel briefly joins them, but Terry drags him away. Harold has to come to terms with the heartbreaking reality of his friends Moose and Porcupine fading away. Soon, everything Harold created with his crayon is taken away from the real world, including the car tire he made for Terry.
Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Harold’s redemption in the Crayon Chronicles
Gary chances upon a heartbroken Harold and gives him a lift. He takes Harold back to his library office and coaxes him to give up his crayon. This turns in favor of Gary, who uses the crayon to realize his own fantasy and imprison Harold. Sensing something to be going wrong, Mel arrives at Gary’s office looking for Harold but gets imprisoned instead. As Gary proceeds with the aim of domination and revenge, Harold is relieved to see that all hopes are, in fact, not lost. Mel still has the piece of crayon in his possession. Soon, everything Harold ever created comes back to life.
Harold finds Gary and tries to stop him from unleashing destruction. Gary, however, gulps down the crayon and becomes a harbourer of immensely potential magical powers. Gary turns himself into the warrior hero from his unrealized novel. He invites Terry to join him in his world domination as a man and woman. Gary’s powers make him turn the park grass into a highly volatile rift zone.
Will Harold’s imagination save the day and restore the balance?
Terry, who has hitherto shunned his son to be too reliant on his imagination, asks him to unleash his powers to save Harold. Mel’s imaginary fire-breathing dragon takes Gary down. Moose and Porcupine along with a little bit of help from a spider-fly make Gary expel the crayon. When Gary professes that he did what he did to make his fantasy world come alive, Harold draws a door for him as a gesture of kindness. As Gary’s fantasies are preserved, Harold shuts the door behind him, and Carl burns the door down.
All of them return to Johnson’s house, which has been modified into a museum. Harold is given a letter left by Johnson, in which he writes that Harold was a reminder to people to never stop believing in the power of imagination. A life is never a waste as long as it is driven by a desire to inspire, and Harold was conceived with that ethos in mind.
With his purple crayon now in full shape, Harold draws a door to his world and returns with Moose and Porcupine. Before parting ways with Terry and Mel, Harold gets a box of Crayola multicolored crayons as a gift from Mel. Once inside his world, Harold promises to go on new adventures, this time with different colors.
