Chocolat

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's tantalizing, delectable and randy, a movie of melting eroticism and toothsome humor.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's built of such exquisite craft -- the acting, the decor, the photography, the music -- that to refuse it is to refuse the very sensations that draw us to art, romance and maybe even life itself.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A work of artistry and craftsmanship at the highest level.

Variety Lael Loewenstein

The most satisfying epicurean feast since "Big Night."

Film.com Tom Keogh

Abittersweet fable about the raw joys of human revival.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

If Hallström has a problem with tone, it lies in his almost supernatural niceness. Thus, what arrives on-screen is purely a man's feminism, simple and trite and beautiful and vital.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

The film burbles with delightful dialogue and a sparkling sense of life.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A sinfully scrumptious bonbon.

Mr. Showbiz Kristy Martin

It's so easy to be mesmerized by Chocolat's brilliant indulgences that one abandons reason altogether.

Newsweek David Ansen

Chocolat is a seriocomic plea for tolerance, gift-wrapped in the baby blue colors of a fairy tale and served up with a sybaritic smile.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

While there are scenes of wrenching emotional openness and spontaneous charm -- largely due to the irresistible allure and impeccable craft of its ensemble cast -- the degree of calculation apparent in its plot and images undermines its efforts to move and seduce.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

So assured in its manipulative prowess that only afterward do you realize how fully you've been worked over.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

May not be deep, but it certainly is lip-smacking.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A bittersweet confection that few holiday filmgoers will be able to resist, thanks to melt-in-your-mouth performances by Juliette Binoche, Alfred Molina and Judi Dench.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is charming and whimsical, and Binoche reigns as a serene and wise goddess.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A charming trifle, beautifully filmed in a Currier & Ives setting, with buttery-smooth performances from Binoche and Depp, and enough good tidings in its nougat center to get you through the holidays.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The director (Hallstrom) and cast are all excellent.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

A cozy little ode to sensual and culinary pleasure.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's as agreeably sweet as advertised, with a particularly yummy performance by Juliette Binoche.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Has an unerring capacity for going soft whenever a hard edge is called for.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Certainly satisfies our hunger for a light, bright dessert, yet it may leave you hungry for more.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Too bad Chocolat isn't as seductive as its leading lady.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Like binging on a bottomless box of truffles: Tastes good and sweet at first, but after a while, you start feeling a little green.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

More sugary than satisfying.

Time Richard Schickel

Made with a sort of tasteful vulgarity, this movie never disappoints the slack-minded audience's anticipation of the humanistically healing banality, the life-crushing behavioral cliché.

USA Today Mike Clark

Never enough goodies to keep the two-hour running time from seeming like three.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

A lighthearted fable with jarring scenes of violence and halfhearted stabs at mystical realism, its saving grace is its gooey center, the luminous Binoche.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Like its title implies, Chocolat tastes good in the moment but leaves behind little nutritional substance.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

I can only bestow this adaptation of Joanne Harris's bestselling novel with such faint praise as "pleasant" and "mildly disarming."

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Airy, pseudo-folkloric gibberish at best.

Slate David Edelstein

The movie is barely sufferable.