The Animal Kingdom
Magnet Releasing | Release Date: March 15, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloMar 15, 2024
The Animal Kingdom moves swiftly between its characters’ everyday problems and the story’s fantastical elements in a magical realist way that quickly captivates its viewer. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 14, 2024
Narrative ambiguity can be fruitful but also a cop-out, as too many would-be art films tediously demonstrate. Here, though, the movie’s vagueness dovetails with both François’s and especially Émile’s confusion, and importantly, it also serves as a counterpoint to their unshakable love for Lana. Read full review
80
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyMay 27, 2023
The Animal Kingdom sets itself up as a brooding chiller, jump scares, freaky coups de cinéma and all, but gradually shifts gear to become more poetic and tender. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 15, 2024
A light but meaty piece of magical-realism that threads the needle between Cronenbergian body horror and Miyazaki-like fantasy to create a modern parable that evokes any number of identifiable emergencies — deforestation, the AIDS epidemic, the global migration crisis and its attendant xenophobia, etc. — in the service of a story that refuses to be reduced into a clear metaphor for any one of them. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineGregory NussenMar 8, 2024
The soft-pedaled approach to its narrative strands gives the film the feel of an extended TV pilot. Read full review
75
ColliderMarco Vito OddoJul 12, 2023
While The Animal Kingdom is far from perfect, it still delivers a crowd-pleasing story that can move and thrill in equal measure. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 15, 2024
Come for the way this film twists a disaster-movie premise into sociological commentary while still bringing the weirdness. Stay for how Kircher and Duris embed a father-son story into the fantastical elements, and transform a far-out tale of genetics run amuck into an elegy about the pain of letting go. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinMay 27, 2023
The inevitable North American remake will no doubt pump more technology into its iteration, but a more efficient, streamlined approach toward pace and editing wouldn’t have hurt this original and striking work. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 27, 2023
“The Animal Kingdom” isn’t a traditional genre movie so much as a coming-of-age story with a creature-feature twist — picture a moody French “Teen Wolf,” minus the laughs. ... Stumble even for a moment, and the whole movie could feel silly, which is what makes the fact that it works all the more remarkable. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekMar 12, 2024
A film that wants to be a metaphor for something, the French film The Animal Kingdom is like an edgeless, absurdist high school version of The Island of Doctor Moreau. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 15, 2024
The Animal Kingdom does what it does fairly well. But what it does isn’t all that original, and lacks the pathos you’d think such a situation might generate in those who live through it. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 1, 2024
The Animal Kingdom seems squeamish about going for the jugular in the way a proper genre movie would. Read full review
60
Screen RantMary KasselMar 16, 2024
Though the story treads familiar territory and doesn't present a remarkable discovery about human nature, that doesn't leave us any less affected by the journey. Read full review
58
The Daily BeastNick SchagerFeb 29, 2024
The Animal Kingdom is what an X-Men movie would look like if it doubled-down on its tolerance-for-outsiders metaphor and did away with any exciting superpowered spectacle. Read full review
58
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodMay 27, 2023
Unfortunately, Cailley’s conventional cinematic aesthetic is also often akin to a contemporary streaming movie (the first thirty minutes or seem like a television pilot) and while the visual effects are solid, there are few images that will stick with you hours after you’ve left the theater. What saves “The Animal Kingdom” is the genuine horror over this happening to anyone (Cailley gets that right, at least) and Kircher’s fantastic performance. Read full review
55
Paste MagazineKatarina DocalovichFeb 28, 2024
Thomas Cailley blends traditional French social realism with one major element of science fiction (humans turning into animals) to create a dystopian drama that focuses on a small, character-driven story in order to evoke a vaguely environmentally conscious message. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithMar 14, 2024
Mr. Cailley is interested in the allegorical implications of his story, but not interested enough to pursue them very seriously. Read full review
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