Eloise at the Plaza

''Eloise at the Plaza'' is a 2003 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

based on the Eloise series of

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

drawn and written by

Kay Thompson Kay Thompson (born Catherine Louise Fink; November 9, 1909''"In the St. Louis Registry of Births, in the volume covering the period July 1909 – January 1910, on page 85, is the following entry: "Catherine Louise Fink, November 9, 1909."''

and Hilary Knight. It stars young
Sofia Vassilieva Sofia Vladimirovna Vassilieva (born October 22, 1992) is an American actress. Notable roles include portraying the children's book character Eloise in '' Eloise at the Plaza'' and '' Eloise at Christmastime'', Ariel DuBois in the Emmy-winning ...
as Eloise, an irrepressible six-year-old girl who lives in the penthouse at the top of the Plaza Hotel in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. This film was produced by
Handmade Films HandMade Films was a British film production and distribution company. Notable films from the studio include '' Monty Python's Life of Brian'', ''Time Bandits'', '' The Long Good Friday'' and ''Withnail and I''. History Foundation HandMade F ...
and DiNovi Pictures for
Walt Disney Television Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Enter ...
with distribution handled by the
ABC Television Network The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Califor ...
, and released on both VHS and
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
by
Buena Vista Home Entertainment Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,Sofia Vassilieva Sofia Vladimirovna Vassilieva (born October 22, 1992) is an American actress. Notable roles include portraying the children's book character Eloise in '' Eloise at the Plaza'' and '' Eloise at Christmastime'', Ariel DuBois in the Emmy-winning ...
) is a fun-loving six-year-old girl with a knack for finding adventure every place she looks. While under the care of her "rawther" wonderful nanny ( Julie Andrews), Eloise tries to play matchmaker to a lonely prince and wrangle an invitation to the society event of the season.

Cast

Reception

Alessandra Stanley Alessandra Stanley (born October 3, 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American journalist. As of 2019, she is the co-founder of a weekly newsletter "for worldly cosmopolitans" called ''Air Mail'', alongside former ''Vanity Fair'' editor-in-ch ...
from ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', praised the film fidelity to the book and the actor's performances. Reel Film Reviews gave the film two out of four stars, stating: "Eloise at the Plaza is mildly entertaining, if only because it seems to consist of one caper after another. The film's structure soon becomes perfectly obvious - Eloise gets into a madcap adventure, adults chase her around, Nanny admonishes her, etc - and the fast pace is clearly in place to keep younger viewers interested. But, though there are a number of talented actors in the cast, Eloise just isn't a compelling enough character to sustain an entire movie. There's no doubt that the movie will act as wish fulfillment for kids - who wouldn't want to run amuck and get away with it? - but when you get right down to it, Eloise is awfully thin and one-dimensional (not to mention annoying)." DVDizzy.com wrote: "The film even ascends beyond the second-tier quality that most television movies are satisfied to achieve. Eloise deserves praise not merely as a more bearable Wonderful World of Disney presentation, but as a genuinely entertaining family film, regardless of format." For his work in "Eloise at the Plaza",
Bruce Broughton Bruce Harold Broughton (born March 8, 1945) is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed man ...
won one Primetime Emmy Award in the category of " Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore)". On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, "Eloise at the Plaza" currently holds 68% of audience approbation.

References

External links
*
Official Eloise Website
*

{{Kevin Lima 2003 television films 2003 films American children's comedy films Disney direct-to-video films Films based on children's books Films set in the 1950s Films set in hotels Films directed by Kevin Lima Self-reflexive films Films scored by Bruce Broughton 2000s English-language films 2000s American films