Little

In Little, we get the story about a young girl who was bullied back in school, grows up to be a bully herself as an adult, and then is magically transformed back into a kid, so she can learn to be a nicer person.  It's a movie where the poster and the trailer tells you everything you need to know.  There are no surprises here.

The concept for the film was dreamed up by 14-year-old TV star Marsai Martin, who plays the little girl version of the main character.  She even got an Executive Producer credit on the film, making her the youngest ever in history to earn the credit.  This behind the scenes story is probably more interesting than anything that happens in the movie itself, which is often the case.  The movie never offends, but it often feels very basic.  We get another message about how we need to be nicer to other people, thrown in with scenes of over the top comedy where the cast bug out their eyes and wave their arms frantically.  It kind of wants to be a cross between The Devil Wears Prada, and the Tom Hanks comedy fantasy Big.  It lacks the mean streak of the first film it wishes to emulate, and the whimsy and humor of the second.  We have yet another movie that is content simply with being nice, and doesn't want to ruffle any feathers, or give the audience something to chew on.

The movie introduces us to Jordan Sanders (Regina Hall), the 38-year-old head of a massive tech company who is controlling, obsessive compulsive, and frequently domineering to her employees, and basically everyone in her life.  She particularly enjoys browbeating her long-suffering personal assistant, April (Issa Rae).  Both Hall and Rae play their roles to over the top extremes, acting like exasperated cartoon caricatures of a boss and employee relationship.  One day, Jordan crosses path with a little girl who hangs around a donut truck that happens to be adept at magic tricks.  The girl casts a spell on Jordan, saying she wishes she was her age, and when Jordan wakes up the next morning, she's suddenly 13-years-old again, and is played by young Ms. Martin.

For the remainder of the film, April will have to pass herself off as Jordan's adult figure, while taking over the company.  She also will have to track down that magical little girl again somehow, so the spell can be reversed. (A plot point that is stressed early on, but never comes up again until the third act.) As for Jordan, she is forced to go back to school, where she befriends some nice kids who are constantly bullied, and becomes the target of bullies herself.  All of this is told with as little imagination as possible.  It's like the filmmakers knew what kind of notes they wanted to hit, but their hearts just weren't really into it.  We also get a lot of subplots and characters that never really go anywhere, such as the young Jordan being attracted to her new teacher.  It also likes to fall back on crowd-pleasing elements, such as a musical numbers to pad out the running time. 

Nothing really builds in Little.  Each scene is like its own little TV sitcom, and it never quite meshes.  We sure do get a lot of plot, though.  The tech company is in danger of losing one of its biggest clients, and April needs to come up with an app to impress them.  The unpopular kids at Jordan's school want to perform a song and dance number at the talent show, but the mean kids just want to laugh at them.  Jordan has a guy in her life, but she's too busy to commit.  The screenplay can never seem to focus on one story or goal for very long.  It also can't decide if it wants to follow Jordan or April, so it tries to split the difference, and both characters end up suffering.  It never settles on a tone, a lead character, or a purpose, so it just ends up jumping around, not really sure what it's doing.

I don't want to discourage young Marsai Martin from trying to break into Hollywood.  Just maybe next time team up with some adults who know how to craft a decent story and characters.  She actually manages to outdo some of her adult co-stars with her performance, so she should definitely keep trying.  If she can align herself with a better script, she could be a force to be reckoned with.

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