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Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
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  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Sid Smith
    88
    In a time when American TV is full of stories of missing loved ones, Abduction keenly explores the reactions of an altogether different society and also examines the universal, excruciating pain suffered by such victims and their families everywhere.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    The film unfolds with all the heart-stopping suspense of a true-crime expose that sheds light on the twisted policies of Kim Jong-il's strange and secretive nation.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    80
    The filmmakers have loftier goals, though, and in the end their existential tabloid style justifies itself. Abduction isn't about what happened, but about the painful introspection that is sparked by not knowing.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    Spellbinding.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    Abduction uses interviews, vintage photos and re-creations to tell the sad story of love and hope in riveting, suspenseful style. So powerful is this film, it brought tears to my eyes.
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    70
    The dramatic story is related here in a somewhat diffuse and scattershot fashion that reduces some of its impact. But there is no denying its emotional resonance.
  7. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    70
    Abduction sheds light onto one of the strangest episodes in recent Asian history, but the murk that hangs over North Korea is still too deep for much light to penetrate.
  8. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ed Gonzalez
    70
    Despite its structure, Abduction sheds light on the disturbing politics North Korea deploys to simultaneously intimidate the world and guard itself from attack.
  9. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    70
    Looks, sounds and fascinates like an exceptional episode of a true-crime TV series.
  10. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Anthony Lane
    70
    Sometimes too ominous for its own good.
  11. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Andrea Gronvall
    70
    The long campaign waged by the Yokotas and other families demanding Japan's diplomatic intervention forms the core of this haunting BBC digital documentary.
  12. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Brown
    67
    For 20 years, Megumi's family doesn't know where she is; when they find out, the frustrations and uncertainties only mount. But as thickets of history and culture are (too) neatly avoided, the viewer is also left in the dark.
  13. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    67
    This is a fascinating, underreported piece of recent world history, but Patty Kim and Chris Sheridan's documentary Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story doesn't do it full justice.
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