The King and the Mockingbird
Rialto Pictures | Release Date: November 21, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNov 19, 2014
The surreal images, offbeat jokes and pointed human-rights allegory make this an altogether different experience from most American animation. It’s dreamy, poetic and not to be missed. Read full review
100
Total FilmJamie GrahamNov 18, 2014
A masterpiece of animation and imagination. Read full review
100
Time Out LondonAlex Dudok de WitApr 9, 2014
Lyrical, satirical and hugely entertaining, it deserves a wider audience. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernNov 27, 2014
The fairy-tale tableau lifts from Hans Christian Andersen but is shot through with bits of burlesque sci-fi, including a giant robot with an orchestra in its chest. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 18, 2014
Marvelously colorful, casually inventive and completely wacky, The King and the Mockingbird just might be the best animated film of the year. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 24, 2014
A truly strange, wondrous beast. It has the playful humor and charm of a children’s movie, but its design is dark and unsettling. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlNov 18, 2014
The director invites us in, to play and dream. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireNov 21, 2014
A digitally restored version arrives in spectacular fashion with its mixture of bold imagery and biting wit. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineSean NamNov 19, 2014
If the film were to propose a mandate for animation, it would be what the medium's etymology has longed suggested: to make the inanimate full of life. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergNov 20, 2014
In its humor, its fairy tale origins and the characters’ rounded features, it plays more like a vintage Disney work, only nimbler and freer. Read full review
80
CineVueEdward FrostNov 18, 2014
Quickly paced and oozing with visual ingenuity, The King and the Mockingbird is an off-kilter but enormously enjoyable passion project whose stance as the vanguard of gorgeous, purely hand-drawn animation is as notable as its notorious production. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 18, 2014
It's a richly conceived treat. Read full review
60
The DissolveTasha RobinsonNov 20, 2014
Seen today, The King And The Mockingbird doesn’t have the tight pacing or propulsive narrative of modern animated stories, or the consistency of a film made to a specific house style. It’s recognizably the work of an idiosyncratic artist dealing in bizarre caricature, and exploring weird ideas... But its visual design and movement are striking, and its story beats are intriguingly unpredictable. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie ErrigoNov 18, 2014
There’s beautiful visual and verbal comedy, and the film has the creative spontaneity of a dream, foreshadowing Spirited Away (it influenced Miyazaki). However, the lack of momentum and focus may end up boring children, while the English dub actors sound a little stilted. Read full review
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