Eloise at the Plaza | |
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Genre | Comedy |
Based on | Eloise by Kay Thompson |
Written by | Janet Brownell |
Directed by | Kevin Lima |
Starring | |
Music by | Bruce Broughton |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
Producers |
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Cinematography | James Chressanthis |
Editor | Gregory Perler |
Running time | 89 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | April 27, 2003 |
Related | |
Eloise at Christmastime |
Eloise at the Plaza is a 2003 American comedy television film based on the Eloise series of children's books written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight. It stars Sofia Vassilieva as Eloise, an irrepressible six-year-old girl who lives in the penthouse at the top of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Julie Andrews, Jeffrey Tambor, Kenneth Welsh, Debra Monk, and Christine Baranski also star.
The film was directed by Kevin Lima, written by Janet Brownell, and produced by HandMade Films and DiNovi Pictures for Walt Disney Television. Filming took place in Toronto and New York City. It aired on ABC on April 27, 2003, as an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney . A sequel, Eloise at Christmastime , aired that November.
Eloise 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, Eloise tries to play matchmaker to a lonely prince and wrangle an invitation to the society event of the season.
Filming began in November 2002, [1] and mostly took place in Toronto, Canada. Scenes were also filmed in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. [2] The film was shot back-to-back with Eloise at Christmastime . [1]
Alessandra Stanley from The New York Times praised the film's fidelity to the book and the actors' performances. [3]
Reel Film Reviews gave the film two out of four stars:
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). [4]
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. [5]
For his work in Eloise at the Plaza, Bruce Broughton won one Primetime Emmy Award in the category of "Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore)". [6]
The film's sequel, Eloise at Christmastime , aired on ABC on November 22, 2003.
Mary Poppins is a 1964 American live-action/animated hybrid musical fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, with songs written and composed by the Sherman Brothers. The screenplay is by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, based on P. L. Travers's book series Mary Poppins. The film, which combines live-action and animation, stars Julie Andrews in her feature film debut as Mary Poppins, who visits a dysfunctional family in London and employs her unique brand of lifestyle to improve the family's dynamic. Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns are featured in supporting roles. The film was shot entirely at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, using painted London background scenes.
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The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, The Wonderful World of Disney, was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onward. The program moved among the Big Three television networks in its first four decades, but has aired on ABC since 1997.
Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, acting coach and acting teacher. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom The Ropers (1979–1980), as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998), George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Maura Pfefferman on Transparent (2014–2017). For his role in the latter, Tambor earned two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations. In 2015, he was also awarded a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Pfefferman.
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Eloise is a series of children's books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight. The series consists of Eloise (1955) and four sequels.
Sofia Vladimirovna Vassilieva 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 TV series Medium, and teenage cancer patient Kate Fitzgerald in the 2009 film adaptation of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
Bruce Harold Broughton 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 many pieces to music archives, including the 1994 version of the 20th Century Fox fanfare with short versions for 20th Century Fox Television and Foxstar Productions and conducting the Cinergi Pictures logo composed by Jerry Goldsmith. He has won ten Emmy Awards and has been nominated once for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Broughton is currently a lecturer in composition at UCLA.
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Eloise at Christmastime is a 2003 American Christmas comedy television film based on the 1958 book written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight. The film stars Sofia Vassilieva as Eloise, a six-year-old girl who lives in the penthouse at the top of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Julie Andrews, Kenneth Welsh, Debra Monk, Gavin Creel, Christine Baranski, and Jeffrey Tambor also star. It is a sequel to Eloise at the Plaza, and the story takes place immediately after the events of that film.
Eloise is the first of the Eloise book series written and drawn by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight, respectively. It was published in 1955. In 1969, the adult-oriented book was re-released as a children's book, without change. An audiobook version of Eloise, narrated by Bernadette Peters, was released in October 2015 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the series. The title character was inspired by an alter ego of Thompson, a little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
James Donald Tuohy, known professionally as Jim Tooey, is an American film actor who has appeared in a total of 20 movies.
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