Children of Heaven
Miramax | Release Date: January 22, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Children of Heaven is very nearly a perfect movie for children, and of course that means adults will like it, too. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Though Majidi draws from familiar Iranian sources, he's made something unique and moving: a sweet tale with a stirring finish. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This modestly produced family drama has all the poignancy and humor associated with today's vibrant Iranian film industry. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
This is a pellucid and gentle film, made with the simplicity and grace of a children's tale and yet its humour, emotional clarity and directness speak directly to adults and children alike - and the pre-teen principals shoulder an adult burden of performance. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubJoshua Klein
Majidi masterfully balances the serious subtext with entertaining vignettes. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Children of Heaven is a simple film – it has bold, childlike colors and a narrative that turns on unremarkable, everyday events – yet Majidi and his young actors invest it with such basic truth about the inner lives of children that the movie feels as big as the universe. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
One problem leads to another, but because the children's points of view are so powerfully rendered, the plot of this elegant and lightly magical-realist 1997 drama never seems merely coincidental. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis Harvey
Much humor and suspense is wrung from incidents that would be minuscule from anything but a child’s p.o.v., many repeated until they become ingenious running gags. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The poverty that is at the heart of the situation is in prominent relief, yet there is a happiness about their lives that defies sheer gloss. Here is a brother and sister who truly love each other and are bonded by their complicity. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
Haunting in its charm, Children of Heaven opens a window on both contemporary Tehran and the hopeful heart of childhood. This lovely, amusing film deserves a big audience -- especially families. It touches on the innocence of children with tremendous affection. Read full review
60
BBCMichael Thomson
Certainly the youngsters in Children of Heaven respond well to the direction of Majid Majidi and give off emotions and thoughts in such an unmannered way that many proper actors could learn loads. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
In Children of Heaven, life is sweet despite countless hardships, and no reality beyond the economic intrudes upon a fairy tale atmosphere. Only through heavy-handed emphasis does the quest for new sneakers take on any greater meaning. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The plot feels less like a realistic dilemma than it does a willed exercise in neorealist catharsis — a way of inviting Western audiences to bask in their materialist ”empathy.” Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Clumsily staged (a bike accident any 15-year-old Super-8 maven could’ve cut better), lit like a soap opera, and acted with all the bribed relish of a peanut butter commercial, Majidi’s movie is merely the simplistic bid being made by every national industry impatient for mass audience attention. Gallingly, it may succeed. Read full review
More From This Movie

77 Critic Reviews

7.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL