The Fairy
Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
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  1. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    May 4, 2012
    88
    Do yourself and your kids a favor. On the way to multiplex to see "The Avengers," tell them The Fairy is about an all-powerful superheroine. Someday, they'll find the words to thank you.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    May 3, 2012
    75
    One's enjoyment of The Fairy depends a lot on knowing why it's worth seeing. It's a comedy with two or three big laughs, but it's not side-splitting. Nor does it have a particularly compelling story. Its appeal is rather in watching people who have devised their own original style of comic performance and have taken it to a rare level of refinement.
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    Apr 19, 2012
    75
    The Fairy may be as close as we'll ever get to a live-action cartoon.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    Feb 24, 2012
    75
    This is the third feature by the three gifted stars, who deftly pull off hilarious, nearly wordless slapstick routines reminiscent of Jacques Tati, Buster Keaton and Jerry Lewis.
  5. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    Feb 22, 2012
    75
    For the most part, it's too dry and quirky to connect. Still, those gags are something.
  6. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    Feb 21, 2012
    70
    While every scene is art-directed with zest and innovatively staged, The Fairy rarely inspires outright laughter. At least it respects its influences more than does "The Artist."
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Peter Debruge
    Feb 21, 2012
    70
    In The Fairy, Abel, Gordon and Romy have all of Le Havre as their playground. And now that the they've established the ideal format for their brand of comicbook-style humor, one can't help but wish they show the good sense to keep it at this level going forward.
  8. NPR
    Reviewed by: Mark Jenkins
    Feb 24, 2012
    65
    Deeply silly in a classic mode, The Fairy continues the French new wave of near-silent cinema.
  9. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Bill Weber
    Feb 21, 2012
    63
    Re-employing the tools of Jacques Tati and Jerry Lewis, this pleasant fable reclaims artful slapstick with a bliss that's hard to deny.
  10. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Feb 23, 2012
    60
    The persistent whimsy gets a bit wearisome, but it's hard to dismiss any film so determined to make us happy.
  11. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    Feb 21, 2012
    60
    Deadpan clownishness is The Fairy's raison d'être and its superior mode; when the lovey-doveyness turns cloying and the atrophied message-mongering creeps in, you wish the threesome knew when to keep their traps shut.
  12. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    Feb 23, 2012
    50
    An alternately effortless and forced French-language diversion.

User Reviews

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User Score
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No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. momomesh-ch
    6
    It's wonderful to be reminded that the film universe is more diverse than the Oscars normally suggest - and also that movies can be lightweight entertainments and also deeply strange. Although less technically polished than "The Artist" and splashed with bright color, "The Fairy" shares some of that film's qualities, for good (funny and sweet) and bad (sentimental and ingratiating). www.momomesh.ch… Full Review »
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