Phoebe in Wonderland
THINKFilm | Release Date: March 6, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Phoebe in Wonderland happens to be at least partly a Lifetime movie, but this special little film is no disease-of-the-week tear-jerker. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
The mesmerizing performance of Fanning as the gifted and troubled young Phoebe sparks the picture. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
There's too much "problem, solution" to Phoebe, although the movie's anxieties are believable enough to earns the moments of uplift. The film may be too concerned with being a crowd-pleaser, but it least it makes the crowd suffer a little along the way. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
There's an unconvincing warm, fuzzy happy ending, in which recognition is treated as cure and understanding heals all. But, until then, Phoebe in Wonderland is an involving and empathetic drama of mothers and daughters. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Let Clarkson and Fanning take you to the rabbit hole of seductive enchantment that defines this movie. And don't ask what to do -- jump. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
It's a delicate, intelligent movie about modern parenthood and the pressures that children face, and it features a cast of talented actors who were clearly committed to the movie's message. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
So realistic are Phoebe's quicksilver emotions that at first it doesn't seem Fanning is acting at all. That helps to ground the film, which swings seamlessly from the world of grown-up expectations to that of childhood reverie and rebellion. Read full review
70
Film ThreatJamie Tipps
Director Daniel Barnz produces an enjoyable film that reminds us that imagination is a precious commodity which adults need to nurture by allowing kids to jump. Read full review
70
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Writer-director Daniel Barnz's film is profoundly stirring, if also occasionally maddening. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Phoebe in Wonderland gradually loses its grip on tone and believability, climaxing with a show-must-go-on moment that's just plain silly. Thankfully, Barnz knows exactly where to end his film: on the face of a girl, and an actress, at the crossroads. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Elle Fanning is wondrous in Phoebe in Wonderland. But the movie is an uneven, unfocused amalgamation of ideas and moods that is at times deeply moving nonetheless. Read full review
60
SlateDana Stevens
Its fancifulness is at times too clunky, its pathos too strained. But Barnz has a secret weapon, one that's 4 feet tall and looks to weigh about 60 pounds: Elle Fanning. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
As the school drama teacher who tries to unlock ''the real,'' Patricia Clarkson makes high theatrical solemnity funny. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
It's not only Phoebe whose daydreams go out of control. Daniel Barnz, the writer-director, also goes a bit flooey. There's a lot more perspiration than inspiration. Read full review
40
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Partly produced by Lifetime, the pic attempts to elevate the disease-of-the-week movie into a moral dialectic between conformity and imagination. Read full review
40
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Think of Phoebe in Wonderland as "A Beautiful Mind," only for kids. And with Elle Fanning, Dakota's little sister, in the Russell Crowe role of the gifted outsider, tormented by demons within. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
So much of this irritating film from first-time writer-director Daniel Barnz feels like a writing exercise it's amazing Elle Fanning, in the title role, comes off as well as she does. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Not even she (Patricia Clarkson), however, can save a movie that suffers from terminal self-enchantment. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
There are problems for us as well in Wonderland. Like its main characters, the film is having an identity crisis -- is it a parable for adults or a fable for children? Its childlike whimsy doesn't always fit with its very grown-up themes. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Soon after that the movie simply stops dead in its tracks, as though the money had run out and the project had been called off in the middle of a scene that makes no psychological or dramatic sense. It leaves you frustrated and annoyed. Read full review
More From This Movie

56 Critic Reviews

8.4 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 71 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