Dear Mr. Watterson
Gravitas Ventures | Release Date: November 15, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
13
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireEric KohnNov 14, 2013
Schroeder tracks the end of innocence in much the same way that the strip captured it each time out. Unlike "Salinger," he hardly makes a spectacle out of Watterson's secluded tendencies. The pileup of interview subjects speak eloquently on his behalf. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthNov 14, 2013
The 90-minute documentary doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is: a love letter to a great comic, providing a digestible version of its history with an eye to its legacy. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinNov 14, 2013
The film, named for "Calvin" creator Bill Watterson, offers not only an in-depth look at the comic strip's unique influence but also a concise snapshot of the dwindling state of newspapers and their "funny pages." Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Nov 13, 2013
Just as it’s impossible to capture in a 600-word review what made Calvin And Hobbes so special, no 100-minute film on the subject can really hope to convey its magic either. But Dear Mr. Watterson does its best, relying on choice excerpts of the work and enthusiastic talking-head interviews. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonNov 15, 2013
As they discuss "how much this strip meant to me," I got the sense that Dear Mr. Watterson was as uninterested in them as I was; they're not even identified. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Dave McGinnNov 14, 2013
Schroeder’s film makes a convincing case that the fact that the characters have never been licensed has a lot to do with why it is still so precious to so many people. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineWes GreeneNov 11, 2013
Though it begins by spending far too much time talking up the comic's quality, it gradually finds a groove as an incisive portrait of an insecure industry. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 21, 2013
It’s not a bad movie, by any means. Just repetitive in its relentless praise. Read full review
60
NPRIan BuckwalterNov 15, 2013
The documentary is at its best when it eases up on the adoration a little and turns to a serious discussion of the state of comics these days, what with newspapers on the decline and digital media scattering an art form that was once centralized on pages delivered to everyone's door. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckNov 14, 2013
For all its fandom and self-indulgence, Dear Mr. Watterson does offer some insightful musings about the decline of comic strips in general, with their content ever shrinking due to the diminished state of the newspaper industry. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichNov 12, 2013
Still, if any modern strip is worthy of an extended, Hobbes-style tongue bath, it’s this one. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianMarc MohanNov 21, 2013
So, be warned: You may not learn anything from this mild, unremarkable film, but you might be tempted to order the deluxe, four-volume “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes” after watching it. I was, and I don’t regret it a bit. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 18, 2013
Look, Dear Mr. Watterson is a nice movie. Calvin & Hobbes fans may get a kick out of it. But it falls squarely into the promotional genre of documentary filmmaking — the same way so many music docs nowadays seem to be just movies about how awesome the director’s favorite band is. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartNov 15, 2013
Like the rest of Dear Mr. Watterson, it’s a good-hearted gesture. But unlike Calvin’s alter ego Spaceman Spiff, this film never manages to achieve liftoff. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldNov 14, 2013
But viewers looking to learn more about Mr. Watterson and his creation than what’s contained in his Wikipedia entry may come away as hopped-up with impatience as Calvin when confronted by parental indifference. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirNov 14, 2013
Schroeder isn’t much of a comic-strip expert or historian, by his own admission, so Dear Mr. Watterson bounces off many of the most interesting issues in and around “Calvin and Hobbes,” noticing them but not exploring them deeply. Read full review
50
The DissolveNoel MurrayNov 13, 2013
Too much of Dear Mr. Watterson is taken up by Schroeder and an array of non-professional C&H-lovers offering vague praise, with little to no real analysis—aesthetic, historical, or cultural. Read full review
50
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekNov 12, 2013
[A] heartfelt but largely inarticulate documentary. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 5, 2013
It is, in short, everything you’d expect from a crowd-sourced documentary, designed to celebrate its subject, while mostly just validating the aesthetic taste of its backers. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 14, 2013
The deeply private, intensely ideological and undeniably brilliant Watterson would make an absolutely fascinating subject. But director Joel Allen Schroeder has no access to him. So instead he talks a lot about how much he loves “Calvin and Hobbes” and then invites other fans to do the same. Read full review
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