| 100 |
Chicago Sun-Times
The kind of parable that encourages us to re-evaluate the good old days and take a fresh look at the new world we so easily dismiss as decadent.
|
| 90 |
Dallas Observer
This uncommonly clever, surprisingly poignant fairy tale packs a social wallop that we're not quite prepared for.
|
| 90 |
Variety
Ingeniously conceived and impressively executed, Pleasantville is a provocative, complex and surprisingly anti-nostalgic parable.
|
| 90 |
Chicago Reader
Magical, visually exciting, affecting even in its sincere hokeyness, and extremely provocative.
|
| 90 |
The New York Times
Ingenious fantasy.
|
| 88 |
ReelViews
Not only is Pleasantville a satire, a fantasy, and a visual marvel, but it's the best kind of feel-good movie.
|
| 88 |
New York Daily News
Giddily inventive.
|
| 80 |
Mr. Showbiz
Offers effortless charm, wit, and originality in spades.
|
| 80 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
To concentrate on the minor faults of a fable as beautiful and unusual as Pleasantville would be missing the point.
|
| 80 |
Washington Post
I can't get over the nagging feeling that Pleasantville's beguiling spell was cast by a real magician, only to be carelessly broken by the same clumsy charlatan.
|
| 80 |
TNT RoughCut
Jennifer Nowitzky
What makes up for the, at times, slow-moving theatrics is the physical beauty of Pleasantville.
|
| 80 |
Film.com
Charming and imaginative.
|
| 75 |
Christian Science Monitor
Ross's comedy isn't as inventive as "The Truman Show," which it resembles in some ways, but it explores interesting ideas with nimble humor.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Examiner
While amusing and sometimes touching, Pleasantville is far from challenging.
|
| 75 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Delightful as it often is, the picture suffers fom the same structural and thematic tidiness, even smugness, that it nominally opposes.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
Terrific idea, brilliantly worked out on a technical level.
|
| 70 |
Newsweek
Jack Kroll
A complex, entertaining film that may have more ideas than it can handle, but certainly has real ideas.
|
| 70 |
Time
An epic-size, largely entertaining parable of repression and awakening.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
The results are charming if rarely thrilling, with outstanding performances from Joan Allen and William H. Macy.
|
| 70 |
Washington Post
Lacks the edge and depth of a truly inspired work.
|
| 70 |
Salon.com
It's tough not to respond to the visual cleverness of Pleasantville.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
Eventually falls into the same candy-coated trap it's trying to expose. But the fact that a movie can acknowledge the trap exists is a step in the right direction.
|
| 67 |
Portland Oregonian
May not be as successful as it is ambitious, but you could do worse than to spend a few hours there.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Tribune
Marc Caro
More clever than coherent.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
Sandra Contreras
His (Ross) sophisticated handling -- and the efforts of his able cast, notably the stellar Joan Allen -- produces a surprisingly accomplished cumulative effect.
|
| 60 |
Village Voice
Funny for about half an hour, Pleasantville thereafter becomes an increasingly lugubrious, ultimately exasperating mix of technological wonder and ideological idiocy.
|
| 58 |
Entertainment Weekly
Technical elegance and fine performances mask the shallowness of a story as simpleminded as the '50s TV to which it condescends; certainly it's got none of the depth, poignance, and brilliance of "The Truman Show," the recent TV-is-stifling drama that immediately comes to mind.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
When Ross gets serious and grasps for allegorical import, Pleasantville bogs down in mixed ambitions.
|
| 50 |
Austin Chronicle
The movie's simplistic storyline does not match its stunning visual accomplishments: Pleasantville's story is drawn from a palette that's strictly limited to black-and-white.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
Glum and preachy.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
Ross' missive is earnest and well-intentioned, but it's difficult not to feel that his film both runs on too long and overreaches its dramatic resources in its attempt to deliver it.
|
| 50 |
Film.com
Ross might have been better served by dismissing verisimilitude altogether and going for a real fable-fable to make what is essentially a very simple point about the dangers and rewards of accepting life's beautiful risks.
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