The Book Thief
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: November 8, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
13
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 14, 2013
This is one of the best movies of the year, featuring one of the most perfect endings of any movie in recent memory. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 14, 2013
The resulting film has some wrong notes and touches of preciousness, but mostly it's a moving and effective presentation of life under Nazism, as seen from an unusual angle. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 7, 2013
The simplicity of Michael Petroni’s script seems a drawback at first. But skilled director Brian Percival (Downton Abbey) slowly, effectively tightens the vise as evil intrudes into the life of this child. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickNov 7, 2013
Overall, it’s engaging and serves its young audience well — a rare Holocaust movie that doesn’t strain to become Oscar bait. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundNov 7, 2013
Books themselves become the story's key symbol, representing the past and future, loss and possibility, of a place that's ground zero for some of history's darkest days. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghNov 14, 2013
The children may tug at the heartstrings, but it’s the adults who give the film its heart. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyOct 4, 2013
The Book Thief has been brought to the screen with quiet effectiveness and scrupulous taste by director Brian Percival and writer Michael Petroni. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 8, 2013
It’s respectable, safe, intelligent – and a bit dull. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergNov 6, 2013
"Life Is Beautiful" may or may not have set a benchmark for tackiness in Holocaust cinema, but The Book Thief offers a hypothetical way in which the former might have been worse: At least it wasn’t narrated by Death. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyAdam MarkovitzNov 6, 2013
It would make for a pretty ghastly pageant if not for smart, understated turns by Watson and Geoffrey Rush as the charmingly Teutonic couple who rescue both Liesel and a stranded Jew (Ben Schnezter) — not to mention the movie itself — with honorable matter-of-factness. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 15, 2013
Then Death feels the need to intrude again. And again. If his accent weren't so charming, his voice so resonant, it would be depressing, all this meddling and mortality. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigNov 14, 2013
Anchoring the story is 9-year-old Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse), whose first scenes are riveting. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryNov 14, 2013
The Book Thief has its moments of brilliance, thanks in large part to an adept cast. But the movie about a girl adopted by a German couple during World War II also crystallizes the perils of book adaptations. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerFeb 24, 2014
Some good performances, impeccable craft and good intentions can’t compensate for a lack of dramatic urgency and emotional heft. The Book Thief is effective, but not effective enough. Read full review
60
Total FilmPaul BradshawFeb 10, 2014
It’s hard not to be moved by the story, but it’s only a handful of great performances that save it from underwhelming. Steal the book instead. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberNov 7, 2013
You may come away more impressed by the intentions than by the achievements. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 7, 2013
The movie’s strong sense of empathy, enhanced by several noteworthy performances, ought to engage most viewers. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianJamie S. RichNov 25, 2013
The Book Thief renders a dark history in the most bland and inoffensive hues. Most of its success relies on our foreknowledge of history. Its own efforts are hollow, squandering a good cast on lazy writing. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 21, 2013
The film is unobjectionable, sentimental, and not a little dull. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 14, 2013
It relays an uplifting story that, ill-advisedly, is not so much Holocaust-era as Holocaust-adjacent, determined to steer clear of too much discomfort. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleNov 8, 2013
As a showcase for accomplished performers tugging heart strings in a holiday awards season, it's perfectly serviceable. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyNov 7, 2013
Directed by Brian Percival, best known for his work on "Downton Abbey," the film has the similar quality of a well-appointed historical soap opera. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthNov 6, 2013
The Book Thief covers a large span of time, but the film's episodic nature, often moving from one incident to the next with little time to pause or reflect, often obscures that fact and hinders an evocation of the cumulative effect the war has on the psyche of not just the Hubermanns, but their neighbors, too. Read full review
50
Film.comJordan HoffmanNov 5, 2013
An embarrassing gut-punch of unfiltered schmaltz, but its sympathy for the devil-style humanism is well-meaning. Read full review
40
The DissolveTasha RobinsonNov 14, 2013
The Book Thief crams story after story into such a small space that it can’t realize any of them in depth. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 6, 2013
Where the book had a kernel of intellectual irony to it — words betray a nation — this drama goes shamelessly for the heart. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 18, 2013
A misfire in far too many meaningful aspects, The Book Thief is so bad that it's tough to decide whether it's better used as a sleep aid or watched while under the influence as an object of derision. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireNov 8, 2013
In the end, there's a distinct air of solipsism to this tale. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovNov 27, 2013
On the not-much-of-a-plus side, at over two hours long, sitting through The Book Thief engenders in the viewer some serious sympathy for the interminable plight of poor, sickly Max, concealed below stairs in a dank, dark corner of the house on Himmelstrasse. Read full review
30
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekNov 8, 2013
The Book Thief is just too tidy to have much impact. Read full review
20
The New York TimesStephen HoldenNov 8, 2013
The Book Thief is a shameless piece of Oscar-seeking Holocaust kitsch. Read full review
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