Eloise at the Plaza (2003)

Eloise at the Plaza is an astonishing delight. Hewing true to the book (with even a cameo and fresh art by the illustrator Hilary Knight), Eloise (Sofia Vassilieva) is simply adorable, incredibly energetic, and she pairs four couples for a finale at the debutante ball! Eloise is the highly precocious and forthright six-year-old girl who is the star of the beloved books by the likewise precocious and forthright Kay S. Thompson that have inspired two generations of women such as Linda Ellerbee. Sofia is a facile study in the cultured and outspoken whirlwind that is Eloise; every scene is spot-on-the-money. (She's better than that piker Macauley Culkin was in Home Alone.) Eloise befriends a young boy and takes him on a horse-and-carriage tour of New York City even as she "tries, tries, tries" to introduce and arrange three couples' dates at the debutante ball -- in addition to colluding to get three invitations. Naturally, her actions bring her into contact with the highest strata of society -- because she learned forthrightness from her globe-traveling mother -- and she unites two families and two couples in joy. Her pranks are hilarious, esp. the reception received by newly hired events coordinator Prunella Stickler (Christine Baranski). Jeffrey Tambor as Mr. Salomone is as perspicacious as ever esp. in his attempts to keep secrets from Eloise (which is impossible). Like her Christmas film, this Eloise movie is a paean to New York City with a script and humor that are excellent. You may find the subplot with the young boy to have a moving conclusion; I did. Some say Eloise's pranks are a bad example for children but kids know it's only a movie and, besides, any child who would imitate a prank after seeing it in a movie as lighthearted as this one has bigger concerns about the effectiveness of his parenting than learning bad behavior from a little blonde girl with a heart of gold. 5 stars.