Kikujiro

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A heart-tugger made totally irresistible because of the combination of Kitano's wry, sly sense of humor and his rigorous detachment.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

It is off-putting at first, then refreshing, then downright touching. In short, it works.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

An experimental feature that keeps shooting off its ideas like an endless row of skyrockets, Kikujiro ultimately conveys this grief with such sustained intensity that it can only leave a scorched path of devastation in its aftermath.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

This genial, lyrical little movie seems guaranteed to broaden Kitano's fan base in the United States.

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

In short, the film is emotional, perhaps even sentimental, but it strenuously avoids the sort of blatant manipulation that marks cheap sentimentality.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Much of this movie is very funny, it has some genuinely endearing moments.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

No one has done the journey quite like Takeshi Kitano in Kikujiro

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Provides an arresting journey through the Japanese countryside and culture.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

The comic drama is refreshingly anti- sentimental but will break your heart anyway.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

If the movie finally doesn't work as well as it should, it may be because the material isn't a good fit for Kitano's hard-edged underlying style.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

When Kikijuro goes soft, the film falls apart, with him becoming a slapstick clown, mugging shamelessly to entertain Masao and the audience.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

The film has a standard trajectory, but the details are unpredictable: Kitano fluctuates between goofy pratfalls. . . and elliptical pathos.

San Francisco Examiner G.Allen Johnson

With a few quiet, moving scenes and a lovely ending, the film betrays an artist's touch, no matter how hard Kitano tries to make it look easy.

USA Today Mike Clark

It's tough to think of another child-adult pairing in a long screen tradition with so little emotional kick.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Beautiful camerawork, some interesting scenes, but extraordinarily slow.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Kitano's first major comedy is loose and likable.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Not only is Kikujiro sweet and funny, it is, no doubt, Kitano's experimental "art film."

TV Guide Ken Fox

Appears to be a complete about-face for Kitano, and yet it's unmistakably his, both stylistically (the film is gorgeous to look at) and thematically.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Ends up a flabby vehicle for the most banal of road-movie messages: The journey's the thing; the goal inevitably disappoints.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Dreamy touches can't compensate for the film's main flaw, which is that the relationship between the two main characters never really develops.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Even allowing for differences in national styles, Kikujiro sprawls and stumbles. It's a road movie that turns into its own detour.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

An overtly saccharine fairy tale of abandonment that is subverted by its own comic brutality. It's oddly affecting...which is to say, sad in a way that its maker might not have intended.

Film.com Robert Horton

It does... apply Kitano's black-comic style to a different setting, and individual scenes sparkle with unexpected jokes, twists, and occasional cruelties.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The episodes are too convoluted to get into.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The film isn't just bad; it's a barely coherent, inert mess -- a heart-tugger for voidoids.