Critic Reviews

• Ty Burr, Boston Globe

  So heavy-handed that only the youngest audiences won't feel talked down to. Instead, they're likely to be freaked out.

• Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

  The story's serviceable, if unexciting, with themes of child-parent love and the importance of peaceful interactions.

• Nell Minow, Chicago Sun-Times

  Distracting flashes of crude humor dissipate any connection to the characters and odd encounters derail the momentum. And the climax muddles the film's eco message.

• Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

  This generally involving film is gorgeous to watch thanks to its 500,000 hand-painted frames of vibrantly colored, enormously artistic animation.

• Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

  The toke-tastic visuals are an endless delight, especially the Migoo themselves, who look like the offspring of McDonald's Grimace and Calvin and Hobbes' killer monster snow goons.

• Rachel Saslow, Washington Post

  What kind of kid will be able to appreciate this serious plot, which involves investors pulling out of a land-development deal and a scary, knife-wielding witch?

• Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  ...it is not the words nor the acting that matter here as much as the beautiful visuals which wear the influence of Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki on its sleeve.

• Mike Scott, Times-Picayune

  The influence of Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki is obvious here, and it's a comparison that doesn't flatter French filmmaker Jacques-Remy Girerd's movie.

• Shawn Levy, Oregonian

  It's lovely, truly, but so heavy-handed and slipshod that it's probably best enjoyed with the sound off -- an option they're not likely to offer at the movie theater.

• Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media

  Magical realism adventure promotes family, environmentalism.

• Simon Abrams, Slant Magazine

  A cliché-riddled kid's film whose sole inventive hook is its hand-painted, Cray-Pas-by-way-of-water-colors animation style.

Read all 11 critic reviews