Bless Me, Ultima
Arenas Entertainment | Release Date: February 22, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertFeb 20, 2013
Carl Franklin's film is true to the tone and spirit of the book. It is patient and in no hurry. It allows a balanced eye for the people in its hero's family who tug him one way and another. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranFeb 21, 2013
A deeply satisfying feat of storytelling, Bless Me, Ultima makes a difficult task look easy. It combines innocence and experience, the darkness and wonder of life, in a way that is not easy to categorize but a rich pleasure to watch. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 22, 2013
Writer-director Carl Franklin offers up a tone of heightened reverence that weighs down the material, but there are small, lovely moments when the magic realism approaches the magical. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayFeb 20, 2013
The movie is at its best when it’s at its smallest: when Ganalon quietly watches Colon coax a dying young man into vomiting up his “curse,” or when Ganalon is getting laughed out of his classroom because he has a burrito in his lunchbox instead of a sandwich. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberFeb 21, 2013
This material would never have attracted a major studio, so Christy Walton — heir to the Wal-Mart fortune — financed the picture herself, not because of any desire to become a movie mogul but simply because of her passion for the novel. She allowed the filmmakers to work without major stars or obvious commercial hooks added to the story. Although the film doesn’t always sustain dramatic impact, its fidelity to the spirit of the novel is impressive. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 19, 2013
Offsetting stiff acting with rich atmosphere, visuals and music, this long-awaited picture hits the novel's key plot points without denying its spiritual soul. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenFeb 20, 2013
Although Bless Me, Ultima can feel a bit overstuffed, it’s an honest and naturalistic kids’ story about growing up Mexican-American. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigFeb 21, 2013
What might have made Bless Me, Ultima more powerful would have been additional scenes with its mystical title character. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsFeb 21, 2013
Obviously a labor love, and its very existence in a godforsaken marketplace is a minor miracle. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 21, 2013
The results are pretty, and sometimes beautiful. They're also a tad stiff, and the dialogue and voice-over narration sometimes has the ring of a scrupulously faithful adaptation. Read full review
60
Village VoiceErnest HardyFeb 26, 2013
Volumes are said about class, assimilation, and the ways the assimilated sometimes shame and scar those who haven't shorn themselves of ethnic or racial signifiers. There is pungency in this shorthand, in these sketches that are richly evocative without saying too much or giving too little. You can't help but wish the movie had more of it. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubFeb 21, 2013
The film often stumbles in translation, trying to define too many characters in too little time. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie OgleFeb 21, 2013
The film isn’t overlong. But it tries to fit so many themes into its brief running time — that it merely touches on most conflicts instead of exploring them in depth or with any delicacy. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreFeb 19, 2013
It’s an engaging yarn, set in a place, a time and among a people rarely represented on the big screen. But “Ultima” is a poetic novel that becomes prosaic on the screen. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.Feb 18, 2013
The film's interest in social themes remains background fodder within a far more generic good-versus-evil narrative. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 22, 2013
Unfortunately, Franklin isn't quite as successful at capturing the depth of the traditions for which Anaya's source material is so well known. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaFeb 22, 2013
The lyrical book is filled with touches of magical realism. On the other hand, the movie is sorely lacking in both magic and realism. It’s all very empty and blah. Read full review
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