| 100 |
Entertainment Weekly
While never slow, the film feels quiet and spacious, like a prayer.
|
| 100 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
The film's climax involves a father and son reunion that is tense, tragic and, finally, as transcendent as Mohammad himself.
|
| 100 |
Boston Globe
The story is spun forth ravishingly, tenderly, and urgently, with a captivating mix of beauty, spare sophistication, and profound humanity.
|
| 100 |
San Francisco Chronicle
This is a transcendent film, deeply committed and beautifully wrought. It will make anyone who sees it look at the world with new eyes.
|
| 93 |
Mr. Showbiz
It's an exhilarating display of filmic artistry.
|
| 90 |
Time
This miniature epic is a film that, like its young hero, will enrich those who peer into its poignant heart.
|
| 90 |
Newsweek
Ann-Rebecca Laschever
A beautifully told story of a child's innocence and faith, filmed with exquisite detail and stunning cinematography
|
| 88 |
Chicago Sun-Times
A family film that shames the facile commercialism of a product like "Pokemon" and its value system based on power and greed.It is made with delicacy and beauty.
|
| 88 |
New York Daily News
Another perfect little gem from Iran in which the simplest story unleashes a torrent of emotion.
|
| 88 |
Chicago Tribune
The simplicity and idealism of The Color of Paradise are part of what makes it so attractive to near-jaded palates here. There are no evil characters in the film.
|
| 80 |
Dallas Observer
A beautiful film from Iran explores beauty both physical and spiritual.
|
| 80 |
Washington Post
A heartbreaker, plain and simple.
|
| 80 |
Chicago Reader
Reputed to be sentimental crowd pleaser, for better and for worse.
|
| 80 |
Village Voice
Like a Hollywood dolt, Majidi strives to overwhelm us with emphasis, but it's the reality he was savvy to load his movie with that's touching.
|
| 78 |
Austin Chronicle
Less a film than a lyrical, naturalistic tone poem.
|
| 75 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's so beautiful and moving and simple that I'm willing to forgive Majidi his contrivances.
|
| 75 |
Portland Oregonian
Offers a charming reinterpretation of what it means to look for happiness and all the unexpected places that it may be found.
|
| 75 |
New York Post
Doesn't have the emotional heft of his "Children of Paradise," but it's still moving.
|
| 75 |
USA Today
Seductively pastoral but also a bit slight, the movie saves its best scene for the very end.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
Westerners may find the religious aspects wearying and a little fantastic. The Color of Paradise is both parable and fable, a retelling of Isaac and Abraham.
|
| 70 |
Los Angeles Times
As worthy and moving as The Color of Paradise is, it is not entirely free of the manipulative, the arbitrary and the downright punitive.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Leans a bit too much toward the lachrymose and has a wrong-note final image.
|
| 70 |
TV Guide
The surprisingly tragic climax may make it rough going for kids too young to grasp the film's comforting message.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
The performances are revelatory.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
Although it has a good heart and a warm spirit, this prettily filmed drama is more sentimental and manipulative than earlier Iranian films on youth-related subjects.
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