He Named Me Malala
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: October 2, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 8, 2015
Guggenheim's film makes it clear that she is funny. She is humble. And, beneath her extraordinary sense of purpose, she is an ordinary kid. Read full review
60
CineVueMatthew AndersonSep 16, 2015
Its flesh and heart lie in the private and personal moments. Read full review
60
The GuardianCatherine ShoardSep 16, 2015
Guggenheim largely dodges lodging her story within a greater political context; a choice, but a shame, for when he does, the movie gains tension. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangSep 16, 2015
Where the film falters is in its willingness to settle for canned uplift, reducing the substance of Malala’s global activism to multicultural montages, goosed by Thomas Newman’s emotional cattle prod of a score. Read full review
58
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 16, 2015
While it’s hard to indict the movie for wanting to admire and honor this extraordinary girl, the movie loses its own inherent potency with a haphazard structure that jumps around far too much in time and a monotonous narrative about Malala overcoming oppressors to bravely speak out and inspire the world. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireOct 2, 2015
While we do indeed see the normalcy of her home life with her parents and younger brothers and the regular, teenage-girl instincts that exist alongside her courage, we never get a glimpse into her deeper feelings. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerOct 1, 2015
It only occasionally delivers the kind of unguarded moment that makes you feel as if you’re getting beneath the media image, and it is not at all interested in discussing broader issues raised by Ms. Yousafzai’s fame. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskySep 30, 2015
A puff piece for someone who doesn’t need one, Malala wraps Yousafzai’s life in media-circuit testimonials and fairy-tale-like animated sequences that stop just short of drawing an aureola of fire around her. Read full review
45
TheWrapInkoo KangOct 1, 2015
Grace and poise are certainly embedded in Yousafzai’s DNA, but there’s frustratingly little of her vulnerability or interiority in the film. Read full review
42
IndieWireGary M. KramerSep 16, 2015
It's a shame that Guggenheim's slickly produced documentary examines such an important and fascinating story with such underwhelming results. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid EhrlichOct 8, 2015
The frustratingly artless He Named Me Malala is but the latest of Guggenheim’s paeans to the global need for education Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 7, 2015
Don’t come to this documentary expecting to learn more about the girl named Malala. Read full review
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