Eloise

Film A couple of years ago I was amazed to discover A Charlie Brown Christmas was made in the mid-sixties. It was one of my favourite childhood films and it seemed very contemporary in the early eighties. Despite the social commentary aspects which I've only noticed later, because it was set in world I didn't recognize but featured characters that I did. Every since my subconscious has been nagging me to read War & Peace. Two new cartoons adapting Kay Thompson's Eloise in the Plaza, a series of children's books from the 1950s could I suspect also have that quality.

The set-up will be familiar to anyone who's seen Life Without Zoe, Francis Ford Coppola's underrated segment of the port-manteau film New York Stories. Eloise, who's six lives in the Plaza Hotel in New York under the care of her Nanny whilst her parents are away. In the first introductory story, Me, Eloise, she's excited about her birthday and after inviting everybody, befriends Yuko, a Japanese violin prodigy. In the other release, Little Miss Christmas, Eloise organizes a holiday show with the other children from the hotel hoping that her special surprise guest, a jovial man in a red jacket and white beard will make an appearance.

Having not read the original books I can't tell how much has been gained or lost in the adaptation process. Eloise is an aspirational main character - unlike Charlie Brown, she has a life that most kids might fantasise about rather than something close to their reality. In Me, Eloise, however she does come across as a bit spoiled and conceited and it's a wonder why the hotel staff would hold her in such high regard other than because they're being paid to. Only in the Christmas film, were despite still being at the centre of attention she commits a number of selfless acts that beneath the bursting excitement she's a sweety really.

What I am sure is a great message is that despite her obvious wealth, in her world, all people are created equally. Eloise's best friend is the daughter of someone who works in the hotel laundry and she makes a point in the closing moments of Little Miss Christmas in telling the young flower seller that he's her friend and they can play whenever. Perhaps for any adults watching, the differing lifestyles of the characters isn't downplayed. When the bellhop agrees to play Santa in the closing moments he has to run across town to change and we see the contrast between his apartment and the splendor of the hotel. Such things do not need to be there and yet their presence gives the film an unexpected depth.

Since the stories are largely told from Eloise's point of view, unlike the Coppola film, little is made of the tragedy of leaving a little girl living in a hotel to be brought up by her Nanny and the people who work there. We see that the other kids all have their parents close by, but the key again, I suppose is that highlighting such things would have given the films a darker edge that would have jarred. But this does also mean that when her mother makes an appearance for the party its simply the extra white sauce on the Christmas pudding rather than everything.

Little Miss Christmas is the more enjoyable of the two, perhaps because its slightly longer and more time is given to the range of people living and working in the hotel, theres a greater sense of community, particularly amongst the kids. Although Me, Eloise does feature much chasing around from the adults when Eloise and Yuko go missing, only at Christmas is the viewer allowed to see the differences in how the children and adults view the importance of the event - highlighted in quite a touching scene between Mr. Salamone, the hotel manager and Nanny when the former has to inform the latter that there won't be any rooms available. The question of the existence of Santa is handled expertly as well.

The animation is good, although there are some exceptional moments - for example when a pigeon flies past the Statue of Liberty and through New York or when Eloise runs through the hotel delivering invitations. The voice acting is, also, good, with obvious compliments to Lynn Redgrave and Tim Curry as Nanny and Salamone. There's good chemistry too from ensemble voicing the kids although one or two might sound a bit familiar from their work in Rugrats and Recess and elsewhere on Saturday morning television. Neither outstays its welcome or extends its story beyond the natural stopping point. The best complement I can give is that I genuinely laughed during both films and grinned when I wasn't really expecting too.