Miracle
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: February 6, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
To make a movie about that team and those games requires more than an ability to depict personal dramas or re-enact game highlights. It requires the re- creation of a world and a mind-set, and Miracle accomplishes both brilliantly. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Russell's conviction is so total that it tingles the spines of the audience. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
An extraordinarily exciting, absorbing and satisfying movie. Not quite "Seabiscuit," but comfortably close. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
This film reminds us you can have a miracle only when David slings a stone at Goliath, not when two Goliaths pummel each other with sticks. Read full review
80
VarietyJoe Leydon
Key to drama's success is the artful underplaying by Kurt Russell in the lead role of Herb Brooks. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
An unabashed flag-waver and one of the best feel-good sports movies ever, this authentic charmer does for its young hockey players what John Wayne used to do for the U.S. Marines, and it lifts us, too, onto the boys' cloud of belief. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
What will make the film compelling even for audiences who never heard of the miracle on ice is Kurt Russell's taut, nuanced portrait of Herb Brooks. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
At the movie's core, disguised with pitch-perfect Minnesota accent and bushy comb-over hairdo, the perpetually underrated Kurt Russell (as the late coach Herb Brooks) delivers a brilliant performance of immaculate control. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Powered by an excellent Kurt Russell performance, Miracle treats old-fashioned, emotional material with an intelligence that respects both the story and the audience. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Reproducing every bruise, blowup and body-check and getting right up on the ice and into the fray, the movie brings the audience back to 1980 with bone-crunching verisimilitude. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Miracle -- the title taken from TV announcer Al Michaels' famous game-clinching cheer, ''Do you believe in miracles? Yes!'' -- wins not when it exhorts by word but when it shows by action. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Miracle is inspirational and uplifting -- qualities we are as much in need of today as we were during the winter of 1980. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Miracle really isn't about the game. It's about the game as metaphor for united we stand. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
What is lacking in suspense is more than made up for in passion and in sports cinematography virtuosity. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Although playing a hockey coach might seem like a slap shot for an actor, Russell does real acting here. He has thought about Brooks and internalized him. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Ordinary folks working together to triumph over incredible odds, depicted in a Disney film that doesn't overdose on sentiment? That's the real miracle. Read full review
75
PremiereKelly Borgeson
Miracle is definitely exciting, and it’s family-family to boot. Take the kids. They may not buy the "any dream is possible" stuff, but if nothing else, the story might pique their interest in American history. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
You keep rooting for the team, mostly because director Gavin O’Connor (the terrific Tumbleweeds) cast real athletes instead of actors, a canny decision that pays major dividends when the big game is re-created. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Once these players strap on their skates and take to the ice, it's hard to suppress that lump in the throat. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
This hockey movie scores, thanks to director Gavin O'Connor's ability to skate that fine line between inspirational and melodramatic and achieve a satisfying balance. Read full review
70
Film ThreatDavid Grove
Powerful in its recreation of a magical time and place and it really does make us believe that miracles are possible. Read full review
70
Village VoiceEd Park
Kurt Russell is terrific as coach Herb Brooks, psychological tactician out to redeem his being cut from the 1960 U.S. squad, the last one to beat the CCCP. Read full review
70
Film ThreatMark Sells
The film has many great moments, but dare I say, it’s not melodramatic enough. To understand the magnitude of the miracle on ice, you had to live it, breathe it, and feel it. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
While the movie's heroes lay everything on the line, Miracle is too content to skate along the surface. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Patricia Clarkson, who has emerged as one of the screen's best character actresses, plays Brooks' wife with intelligence and down-to-earth warmth. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
You might cheer. You might cry. For a minute, you might even wish it were you on that medal stand. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Does a yeoman's job of recycling the day-old dough that passes for its story. Read full review
60
Washington PostMark Jenkins
Miracle works best when the players are on the ice, shot in a faux-documentary style that uses the now-customary handheld cameras, fast pans and machine-gun edits. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Kurt Russell gives a terse, unsentimental performance as coach Herb Brooks, but director Gavin O'Connor sticks to the "Hoosiers" playbook. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The best and most moving part of Miracle may be the closing credits, in which we see pictures of the actors accompanied by the names of the real-life characters they played and a strip of type that tells us where they are now. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Like the Oscar-nominated "Seabiscuit," though, Miracle fails to ring true as it tries to make a sporting event an all-embracing metaphor for the American way. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
The feel-good finale -- an ending even less in doubt than that of the most predictable Hollywood fare -- is as rousing as you'd hope and the fast-paced, on-ice action is satisfyingly authentic. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
It's sometimes exciting but rarely thrilling, a victory of formula over finesse.
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
A suitably rigorous sports movie. On the other hand, at no time does it break out of the "sports movie" mold. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The climax, a 20-minute dramatization of the crucial contest, lacks both suspense and poetry -- essentially, we're left to watch a clumsy recreation of a game whose outcome we already know. That's a sort of resurrection, I suppose, but miraculous it assuredly ain't. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Unfortunately Miracle is long on cliché and short on originality. Read full review
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