The Hero of Color City

Movie review by Yvonne Condes, Common Sense Media
The Hero of Color City Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 4+

Gentle adventure is sweet, colorful but not very original.

G 2014 77 minutes
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Parents say

age 3+

Based on 5 reviews

Kids say

age 3+

Based on 4 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

Stands out for and .

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Hero of Color City is similar to Toy Story, but instead of toys coming to life, it's crayons. The movie has lots of positive messages about overcoming your fears, believing in yourself, helping others, and working as a team. There are a few scenes in which the crayons are in peril -- a dinosaur wastebasket comes to life, a character is dropped off a tall building (and caught!), the crayons take a boat down the "scary narrows" and encounter a spooky fog and threatening voice -- but nothing overly scary. Younger kids will like the colors and the mild adventure, but the story might not be exciting for older kids or their parents.

Community Reviews

Ben D.
Ben D. Adult
January 31, 2023
age 2+

IT’s garbage

It’s pure garbage it’s basically corporate greed mashed up into this you’re kids shouldn’t watch it give them better movies like toystory or dreamworks or something not this you’re kids need better stuff that can interest them not this stuff yes it’s colorful and can distract your kids for an hour but it’s not even educational at least show them something like pbs kids or something like that because at least they can learn but this won’t teach them smack EDIT: also I have a 3 year old daughter and a 6 year old son and nether of them liked it when I asked them and they showed this at my daughter’s daycare and at allot of the kids there liked the movie (parents were allowed to come) and me and my wife could see the faces of the parents who basically wanted the movie to end so they can leave and one parent (we’ll call her sandy for privacy) asked the teacher if she could not play this anymore)
Dineta9
Dineta9 Adult
January 16, 2021
age 3+

Awesome!! Make more color city movies, please!

My grandson is 3yrs old and he loves this movie. He loves the songs and he is learning his colors from this movie. In fact his mom, aunt and I love to watch the movie with him. He acts out the brown, blue, green and other male character colors (this movie is also helping him to learn more words) and wants us to do the red, yellow and other female voices. I wish they would make more movies with these crayons in color city and same voices

This title has:

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See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Ben loves to draw, but what he doesn't know is that the figures he creates come to life, along with the crayons. After he goes to sleep, the crayons jump into their box to get home to the beautiful and bustling Color City. Two of Ben's creations, King Scrawl and his sidekick, Gnat, follow the crayons and start wreaking havoc in Color City. If crayon Yellow (voiced by Christina Ricci) and her friends don't stop King Scrawl from plugging up the town waterfall, all of the color will drain from their colorful metropolis.

Is It Any Good?

THE HERO OF COLOR CITY is similar to Toy Story, but without the groundbreaking animation or iconic characters. It's a cute movie with some nice songs and good lessons for little kids. But the main character, Yellow, isn't quite engaging enough to hold older audiences' attention as she inadvertently goes on an adventure and fights all of her fears.

There are some funny lines, mostly by the pessimistic crayon Black (David Kaye), and some pop culture references (plus a strange crayon who sounds like Jerry Lewis) scattered here and there, but the story -- while sweet -- is one we've seen before.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Yellow's fears. She's isn't very confident in her abilities and is afraid of new experiences. Kids: Do you ever feel afraid? What do you do to get past it?

  • Why do you think it was important for Yellow to help the creatures in the Land of the Unfinished Drawings?

  • Kids: Do you ever pretend that the objects in your room come to life when you're sleeping? Is that idea exciting or scary? Why?

Movie Details

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