Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 44 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 192 Ratings

  • Starring: Dwight Henry, Gina Montana, Jovan Hathaway, Levy Easterly, Lowell Landes, Nicholas Clark, Pamela Harper, Quvenzhané Wallis
  • Summary: In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions. (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 44
  2. Negative: 0 out of 44
  1. Reviewed by: Damon Wise
    Oct 3, 2012
    100
    Beautiful, funny, timely and tender, this is the American arthouse movie of the year.
  2. Reviewed by: Steve Persall
    Jul 25, 2012
    100
    Hushpuppy carries a lot of emotional weight on her slender shoulders, and Wallis makes one wish to climb into the screen to lighten the load with an embrace. Do not miss this performance, or this quietly astonishing, life-affirming masterpiece.
  3. Reviewed by: Peter Bradshaw
    Oct 19, 2012
    80
    Beasts of the Southern Wild is a vividly poetic and maybe even therapeutic response to one of the most painful and mortifying episodes in modern American history, second only to 9/11.
  4. Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Jun 26, 2012
    60
    How can a movie so steeped in post-Katrina imagery eschew even the smallest comment about social responsibility? Maybe that was deemed too earnest, a decision that makes zero sense when a twinkling score is ladled on like instant pathos. Real people aren't beasts, nor do they require starry-eyed glorification. Bring your liberal pity.

See all 44 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 41 out of 67
  2. Negative: 15 out of 67
  1. Beasts of the Southern Wild is in a club of one. One of the most unique films I have ever seen. With images of post-Katrina New Orleans, and the poverty of the Southern Wild, you would expect some high-nose social criticism, but you don't get any. The result is an honest narrative of beautiful simplicity. A coming-to-age story that uses no clichés as crutches, and tells the story that ultimately all of us will experience. Although I can't say I was enjoying it throughout, the ending, is one of the most moving sequences in cinema I have ever seen. With its powerful score and beautiful images, this film will leave you feeling fulfilled. Collapse
  2. Beasts of the Southern Wild is an unique movie, very different from what I have seen before. It is a very touching, heartbreaking and breathtaking film. To begin with we see that the stage is set on a poor and peasant village, where a little kid lives with her father, in the most precarious conditions. The interesting thing here is that this girl is discovering the world, learning how to survive. But she is frightened of the unknown things, which are for example living independently, detachment from the family, own survival, civilized humans, melting icecaps and storms; all these things are represented as strange and fantastic creatures that chase the protagonist. The problem is that Hushpuppy insists on trying to hold on the things she had sometime, that is why she is a mess without her father or likes to talk to a shirt pretending to be her absent mother. Another exciting topic is that the only thing that the protagonist knows for sure is that everything fits perfectly in the universe and has a natural course, so one change should lead to another. This turns out to be a very surprising movie and Quvenzhane Wallis did a dazzling performance, very uncommon for a girl of that age. Expand
  3. What a touching film. It's excellent on many sensory levels, and Hush Puppy (the little girl) is pretty amazing as the film's focus. The music brings so much to it - probably more so than in any movie I've seen this year. Expand
  4. While there are a few great performances in this movie, I can't help but think of this as a poorly-framed message movie (Poor people have pride! "Normal" people are evil and don't understand!) that threw in "magic" in an effort to express wonder. The story effectively goes nowhere, yet allows those who want to sound erudite to expound greatly on the imagery and triumph of spirit contained within. Expand

See all 67 User Reviews

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