Directed by Patricia Rozema. With Abigail Breslin, Julia Ormond, Joan Cusack, Stanley Tucci and Chris O'Donnell. Distributed by Picturehouse. 1 hour, 40 mins. G (mild suspense). Playing at: area theaters.

On the subject of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, a colleague rolled his eyes and snorted, "Can you believe it! A movie based on a doll?"

Hello? We've had movies based on toys (Transformers), theme-park rides (Pirates of the Caribbean), and media franchises (Pokemon). What's so unusual about a movie based on a doll?

And though Kit may be that, more relevant is that she is a literary heroine, as vital and vivid as Hermione Granger. In the buy-the-doll, learn-her-history marketing of American Girl, Kit is also the protagonist of young adult novelettes that moms and dads like reading as much as their 7- to 11-year-old daughters do.

While the film starring Abigail Breslin as a resourceful 10-year-old is faithful to the Kit books, it's poky where it should be perky.

Kit the book is a view of a transforming event in American history through the eyes of a tween, herself transforming. Kit the movie is a cavalcade of hobos, forgotten men and gallant gals. It's admirable, always, pleasant in passages, but never fully engages. Is it that Breslin is a better ensemble player than central character? That Kit's story is so episodic?

In 1934, as legions of Americans become jobless and homeless during the Depression, Kit, daughter of a Cincinnati car dealer, thinks economic hardship is something that happens to others.

But when her father (Chris O'Donnell) loses his job and her mother (Julia Ormond) converts their comfy home into a boardinghouse in order to make ends meet, Kit ditches the social snobbery and unselfishly pitches in.

Because there are precious fewer films where the focus is on young women, I don't want to be harsh on a film made with obvious love and respect. Still, this underserved audience deserves better. - Carrie Rickey