With Harold And The Purple Crayon releasing just this weekend, early reviews are starting to come through. So far, however, the reviews have seemingly been divided. 

Harold And The Purple Crayon, based on the book by Crockett Johnson, follows Harold, a book character who has in his possession a magic crayon. With the crayon, he manages to draw himself into the real world to help it out with an infusion of his imagination. 

Carlos Saldanha, director of Ice Age: The Meltdown and Rio, is helming the film. It stars Zachary Levi in the titular role, along with Lil Rel Howery, Jermaine Clement, and Alfred Molina. 

In their review, Deadline called the film “refreshingly straightforward,” and made note of how the story sticks to the original story while adapting it for the big screen and managing not to stray into anything added for the film. 

They also mentioned that despite some inconsistencies with the storytelling, Levi was able to stay consistent throughout, bridging the gap for audiences to enjoy the movie. 

However, it was also noted that it doesn’t seem very likely to start a new string of movies, which some movies geared toward families have been able to do in the past. 

Harold And The Purple Crayon currently has a 6.2 on IMDb, out of 67 reviews, and a 36% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, out of 25 reviews. 

Harold And The Purple Crayons opens in theaters this Friday.