Judy & Punch

Rich with idiosyncratic style, macabre wit, riveting energy, and performances both playful and perturbing, Judy and Punch really packs a punch. I'm sorry, but it does.

The movie would like to see itself as a feminist allegory of abuse and systemic oppression, but it comes off as something far more scattered and unfocused.

There's no puppet master here - just a pair of hands waving in the air, not quite sure what to do once we're paying attention.

"Judy and Punch" feeds on the comic violence that has always informed this material, and finds any number of amusing ways to weaponize it against the irredeemable puppetmaster who's due to become the butt of his own joke.

"Judy & Punch" is a promising debut for Foulkes, and it's always nice to see the tables turned on centuries of mistreatment.

As the movie's tone teeters awkwardly between farce and tragedy, tenderness and bloody vengeance, it's the performances that root it...

The puppetry is gorgeous, as are the real-life performances.

A feminist retelling, a dark comedy, and an adaptation of a puppet show, Judy & Punch takes the opportunity to give voice to the voiceless, like so many fairy tales do.

Wasikowska, far better at giving speeches here than her appearances in Tim Burton's awful Alice in Wonderland movies, makes a stirring feminist hero.

Although uneven, it cleverly balances everything from humour and tragedy to fairy tales and feminism in a sly story of love and vengeance.