| 75 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Finally becomes a somber, sentimental and rather profound romantic fantasy that is more true to the spirit of the Golden Age of science-fiction writing than possibly any other movie of the '90s.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
Captivating an audience from the get-go and drawing our attention and emotions ever deeper into the layered mysteries of a dreamy fable.
|
| 67 |
Austin Chronicle
More a meditation on the nature of life itself than anything else, and a welcome respite from Robin Williams, the emotion sponge.
|
| 63 |
Boston Globe
Few actors apart from Williams could bring it off.
|
| 63 |
Charlotte Observer
May wrestle with big ideas, but it does so through a succession of small emotional moments.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
A fragmented, episodic feel and a conclusion that seems both remote and remote-controlled.
|
| 63 |
Miami Herald
Entertains but never quite engages.
|
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times
A mainstream holiday movie, complete with stupendous special effects, amazing make-up artistry and sumptuous production design.
|
| 60 |
TNT RoughCut
Bill McLochlin
Though Williams gives one of his better performances in recent years -- finding the right combination of humor and restraint for this role -- none of the human characters are fleshed out in any way.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Examiner
Reinforcing the chasm between movie magic and wishful thinking.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
The sad fact is Williams is at his best while trapped in Andrew's original sleek form. His performance is subtle, his reactions restrained. The more Robin is exposed, the more ham is served.
|
| 50 |
The New York Times
Except for Williams, the sitcom-meets-sci-fi acting throughout the movie is strictly of television caliber.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Begins with promise, proceeds in fits and starts, and finally sinks into a cornball drone of greeting-card sentiment.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Has heart, but lacks bite.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Has a certain slow, mechanical quality.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
The once-funny Robin Williams is still stuck in his excruciating touchy-feely mode.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
Kids may yawn at the movie's dawdling pace.
|
| 50 |
Variety
Columbus' approach is intended to cloak such topics as mortality and human identity in the warm glow of greeting card sentiment, which renders the prescription palatable for mass consumption but hopelessly diluted.
|
| 42 |
Entertainment Weekly
Director Chris Columbus...seals this comedy in an impenetrable bubble of hollow humanism.
|
| 40 |
TV Guide
The play for the heartstrings is so cold and calculated that the movie's sentimentality feels as synthetic as its hero, and the philosophy is simpleminded and lazy.
|
| 40 |
Chicago Reader
The childish humor and sensationalistic effects undercut the movie's philosophical agenda.
|
| 38 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
I'll be darned if I can think of a more excruciating, ponderous, remarkably unfunny and inert cinemagoing experience to come down the pike in ages.
|
| 38 |
Mr. Showbiz
This saga of one robot's determined quest to become human is so coldly calculated it could give you frostbite.
|
| 33 |
Portland Oregonian
You're likelier to shrink in astonished horror from it than laugh.
|
| 30 |
LA Weekly
Nicole Campos
With this desperately eager-to-please fable based on a short story and novel by Isaac Asimov, director Chris Columbus clinches his berth as the master of shiny-happy message movies.
|
| 30 |
Washington Post
A cold, protracted and unemotional affair.
|
| 30 |
Village Voice
Amid the complacent self-congratulation...is a bizarre reactionary bent.
|
| 30 |
Dallas Observer
It's not really a kids' film, nor it is particularly funny, by either design or execution. It is, rather, Columbus' latest attempt at a comically tinged tearjerker.
|
| 30 |
Time
The tone is cloying, the running time bloated.
|
| 25 |
Baltimore Sun
Must be among the most blatantly manipulative movies ever made. It's cold, calculated and treats its audience like its robotic central character.
|
| 20 |
Newsweek
Kids will be bored, the rest of us baffled.
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