Although director Lena Khan’s adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery Award-winning children’s novel occasionally retains its message and engagingly snarky tone, the film — available via Disney+ — too frequently succumbs to the property-destroying slapstick that characterized far too many insufferable Disney comedies in the late 1960s and ’70s.
I suspect the book’s fans will not be pleased.
Having discovered that her new pet squirrel has some rather unusual talents, Flora
(Matilda Lawler) is faced with a problem: What does one do with a critter that can fly,
and possesses super-strength?
Brad Copeland’s screenplay takes serious liberties with DiCamillo’s book, particularly with respect to how the young heroine’s mother is portrayed. She has been softened considerably here, and made more amiably flustered and vulnerable: characteristics at which co-star Alyson Hannigan is quite adept.
This, in turn, demands an entirely re-written third act dominated by a new comic-relief villain: a juvenile artistic decision which suggests that Khan and Copeland simply didn’t understand their source material. More’s the pity.
We meet young Flora Belle Buckman (Matilda Lawler) at low ebb: deeply concerned because her parents — George (Ben Schwartz) and Phyllis (Hannigan) — have separated. He’s a frustrated comic book artist depressed by never having been able to sell any of his creations; she’s a successful romance novelist who fails to realize that her current case of writer’s block stems from the absence of her soul mate.
Flora, adept at adapting, has forsaken hope for suspicion and pragmatic sarcasm: She’s a self-proclaimed cynic, and proud of it. Her imagination is shaped by the do-gooding heroes she adores in comic books, while recognizing that there are no heroes — no magic, no miracles — in the real world. Her personal philosophy is shaped by the book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!
(Let it be said, her small town has the world’s coolest comic book shop.)
On an otherwise ordinary day, a somewhat ditzy neighbor’s Ulysses Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000X vacuum cleaner bursts from the house, into the yard and — to Flora’s horror — sucks up an unsuspecting squirrel. Not one to shirk from an opportunity for personal heroism, Flora rescues the little critter, reviving it from suffocation by … well, the way one normally helps those who aren’t breathing.
The grateful squirrel refuses to leave Flora’s side, becoming a clandestine pet … and not just any pet. As the next few days pass, Ulysses — as Flora has named him — demonstrates impressive strength, along with the ability of actual flight. Even more amazing, he clearly understands what Flora says, and can “respond” with brief sentences composed while bouncing on the keys of Phyllis’ ancient manual typewriter.
“Holy Bagumba!” the girl exclaims.
