Duma
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: August 5, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Ballard filmed across hundreds of miles of South African desert, and there are times when the whole throbbing universe seems to resound for him. Read full review
90
VarietyScott Foundas
A superior all-ages adventure pic made by a filmmaker who knows more than a thing or two about the genre. Read full review
90
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Intelligent, visually rich filmmaking. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
A drama of uncommon beauty and emotional resonance. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Enormously entertaining. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Duma, at its best, reminded me exactly why we loved movies as children: because they told stories like this, with images just as rhapsodically colorful and exciting. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
An astonishing film. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This is precisely the kind of film that parents clamor for and rarely get: a substantive, stirring, Huck Finn-style saga that doesn't insult anyone's intelligence or mindlessly entertain with crass humor. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The same audience that loves "March of the Penguins" will eat up this beautifully told, gorgeously shot story of a grieving boy trying to return his pet cheetah to the wilds of South Africa. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
An exquisitely filmed, emotionally transfixing epic about a white South African boy's journey to return his pet cheetah to the wild. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
A newcomer to film, Michaletos grew up on a farm with cheetahs, so he can act natural around the animals while making this Huck Finn-like character more than credible. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Duma is not a masterpiece, but its deficits recede into insignificance once you open yourself to the movie's mystery and visual splendor.
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This is superior family entertainment--warm, thoughtful, and connected to the landscape. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
It's rich, but slow, and children younger than eight (like mine) might get restless. But this big kid was lost in admiration. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A soulful, piercingly beautiful story. Read full review
80
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
Documentary makers struggle for this effect -- a feeling for the land that is both grand and unsentimental. The makers of Duma, a fable fit for children, have found it. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Ballard connects you to the beauteous inner calm of the wild, even if audiences today are looking for a lot less calm. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
A superior adventure film with a poetic heart. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The cheetah is the star in Duma, and no one directs animals more convincingly than Ballard, who knows better than anyone how to integrate patchwork nature shots into narrative action. Too bad the two-legged talking animals aren't as compelling this time out. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
A pleasing fable reminiscent of G-rated nature movies of the '60s and '70s, before kiddie cinema required CGI or hip cultural references. Read full review
60
Village VoiceBen Kenigsberg
Duma turns out to be surprisingly flat, with little of the child's-eye imagery that gave "The Black Stallion" its poetic thrust and too much of the narrative gear-grinding that grounded stretches of "Fly Away Home." Read full review
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