Winged Migration
Metascore
82 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 34 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    Stays in the mind, changing the way we look at the world.
  2. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Addison MacDonald
    100
    By the end of the film, one begins to recognize specific birds, rooting for their safe returns and saddened by some of their failures.
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    100
    This French documentary gives us unprecedented intimacy and sweep.
  4. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    100
    Watching this movie, you can dream with open eyes.
  5. The New Republic
    Reviewed by: Stanley Kauffmann
    100
    What an extraordinary idea it was to make this film. What a splendid achievement.
  6. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    90
    Birds are not just the movie's stars, but its whole universe. They inspire in Perrin and his crew, and in us, not just awe but humility. You'll never look at them the same way again.
  7. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    90
    Intellectually austere but technologically and aesthetically riveting documentary.
  8. Variety
    Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    90
    Visually stunning, practically dialogue-free and very family-friendly.
  9. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    90
    A magnificent documentary that flies us along with migratory birds on their intercontinental travels, it's the polar opposite -- North Pole, South Pole and all latitudes in between -- of modern feature films that rely on special effects.
    All this critic's reviews
  10. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    90
    It's not the enormous undertaking that impresses so much as the sheer ecstasy of flight and the ability of Perrin's team to catch it.
  11. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: John Pancake
    90
    Mysteries still surround many aspects of bird migration. This film unravels exactly none of them. Rather, in some of the most remarkable footage you'll ever see, the film lets you look over the shoulders of migrating birds.
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Ted Shen
    90
    The most astounding cinematic testament to flock mentality since Hitchcock's "The Birds."
  13. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    The result is a movie miracle; it soars.
  14. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    88
    Leaves you in a state of stunned, exhilarated awe, both for what it shows and how it shows it.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    88
    Breathtaking.
  16. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    88
    The results require immense patience but also reward it immensely.
  17. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    83
    Mesmerizing.
  18. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    83
    Somewhat marred by Bruno Coulais' treacly New Age score -- as well as by Perrin's somewhat daft and repetitive narration. But the key word is "somewhat." In the main, Winged Migration is an unforgettable piece of moviemaking.
  19. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    80
    Absolutely breathtaking documentary whose close-up shots of birds in flight are so freakishly intimate that the film is compelled to open with the statement they're not special effects.
  20. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rick Kisonak
    80
    The score is appropriately ethereal. From the Paris skyline to the Great Wall of China, the film's locales on every continent are rarely less than breathtaking. Calling the camerawork stunning, of course, is an understatement.
  21. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: John Powers
    80
    Astonishing both for the beauty of the birds and for its sheer technical brilliance.
  22. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Andy Klein
    80
    The fractured structure, which moves from one species to another while following a generally chronological overall arc, can occasionally leave your mind to wandering, but for a film with no plot or characters to focus on it is remarkably gripping.
  23. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    80
    At its best, Winged Migration is a marvel, and if that seems like a gee-whiz word, that's because this film has a lot to be gee-whiz about.
  24. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    Jacques Perrin's Oscar-nominated Winged Migration does for birds what the 1996 documentary "Microcosmos" did for insects: It looks at them intimately, very close up, in shots that seem impossible to explain.
  25. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    75
    A thrillingly vicarious experience that answers a primal urge to join our feathered friends as they soar and glide in the blue beyond.
  26. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    The results are exhilarating, thrilling, and extend the wingspan.
  27. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    If it were any more real - if it were Imax, say -- the audience would be molting.
  28. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    70
    Parts of this film are as blandly lulling as a mood tape, but at best it’s a literally soaring experience.
  29. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    70
    Jacques Perrin's Winged Migration is merely about birds, and though you learn less about the various species Perrin circled the globe to document than you might from an afternoon with Animal Planet, you become intensely chummy with the process and labor of flying.
  30. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    70
    It may sound facetious, but Winged Migration provides such an intense vicarious experience of being a flapping airborne creature with the wind in its ears that you leave the theater feeling like an honorary member of another species.
  31. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    67
    As moving wallpaper, Winged Migration is the cat’s meow: One almost wishes the wondrous images had been filmed in the even bigger IMAX format. But as an informative documentary, Winged Migration’s birdbrain comes to the fore.
  32. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    67
    Makes a case that despite human inability to empathize with the emotional lives of other animals and creatures and to believe they are here only to serve our needs and convenience, birds are as capable of courage, violence, affection and commitment to family as we are.
  33. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    60
    Settles into pleasant monotony and repetition, without any narrative arc or purpose. Seasoned bird-watchers, however, may find that the sensory overload leaves them close to spiritual nirvana.
  34. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    As gorgeous as it is to watch, Winged Migration suffers from a lack of organization.

User Reviews

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User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. GuyM.
    10
    Absolutely marvelous movie and overall effort.
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