The Odd Life of Timothy Green
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: August 15, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
19
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 15, 2012
Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton are appealing together as far from perfect parents, and CJ Adams has that ability of so many child actors to be pitch-perfect. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliAug 15, 2012
The kid is a charmer, the message is heartfelt - love your kids while you can - and, OK, the ending might jerk a few tears, even from a crank like me. OK, it did. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 14, 2012
With just the right dose of magic and no shortage of sentiment, this inspirational parenting tale from writer-director Peter Hedges plays like "Mary Poppins" in reverse. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAug 15, 2012
The movie should have been called Diary of a Wimpy Forrest Gump. It's genuinely soft-hearted (you're all but guaranteed to cry) but mush-brained, too. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 16, 2012
The film's earnestness makes up for its high corn factor. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 15, 2012
Drama/comedy fables such as "Big" and "13 Going on 30" effectively transported viewers to their whimsical alternate reality. But Timothy Green feels more predictable than other-worldly. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 15, 2012
Hedges is a determined romantic and a bit of a saphead. He's also humane. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraApr 1, 2013
The midway point between "A.I." and "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid." It has quirky charm and a tender heart, but the treacly sentiment may become wearisome. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 15, 2012
Odd indeed. In a good way, mostly. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAug 14, 2012
A fairy tale about parenting that stays kid-friendly without completely glossing over the darker themes of its premise. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondAug 14, 2012
It's a magical film in the vein of E.T. where an otherworldly event changes a family forever. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsAug 14, 2012
The Odd Life Of Timothy Green attempts to stage a modern fairy tale in Middle America. But in spite of an abundance of earnestness, the pixie dust needed to create magic remains out of the film's reach. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyAug 16, 2012
As anodyne as it is, Timothy Green may represent the last gasp of a genre, the live-action family fable, that has been an entertainment staple for a couple of generations of moviegoers. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 15, 2012
Hedges has demonstrated his sensitivity to internecine family conflicts and the tenor of small-time life. However, The Odd Life of Timothy Green seems always to be straining for whimsy and wonder. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 15, 2012
In the end, what mars "Timothy Green" most is its middle-of-the-road approach. Its appealingly quirky, fairy-tale-like center is so coated with sugar, it cloys. It's not that "Timothy Green" is odd, but that it isn't odd enough. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithAug 15, 2012
If the movie's story is anything but daring, it does takes guts to make a movie so shamelessly emotional as this one. Not that guts are the same as taste. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 15, 2012
It's the sort of thing you'll either find enchanting or an excellent reason to reach for the Scotch. Read full review
40
Total FilmMatt MaytumMar 25, 2013
An outdated oddity. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 16, 2012
For all its feints at sensitivity, this isn't a movie, it's a machine, and it's hard not to be impressed - perhaps even awed - by the sheer ruthlessness with which it jerks the tears from your eyes. If anything, a real movie might just have gotten in the way. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAug 15, 2012
Although little Timothy does arrive in unusual circumstances, his story will feel familiar to anyone who's encountered Hollywood's particular brand of calculated sentimentality. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 15, 2012
The ghastliness of this damp and squishy comedy is the byproduct of a confused and earnest sentimentality, a willful devotion to wide-eyed wonder that confuses simplicity with simple-mindedness. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 15, 2012
This is a movie that confuses teary with sweet. Mopey with sad. Discomfort with humor. And, worst of all, it confuses weird with odd. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 15, 2012
Not only is the story dreamed up by producer Ahmet Zappa even odder than the title indicates, its execution gets increasingly irritating as the film goes on. Read full review
40
Village VoiceErnest HardyAug 14, 2012
What follows is a film as odd as its title character. Timothy flings grown-up ideas at the viewer but rips the teeth from them rather than risk our discomfort. Read full review
40
Time OutAlison WillmoreAug 14, 2012
Timothy is apparently nothing more than practice for when a real child comes along - at which point the movie's cloying cotton-candy flavor develops a seriously astringent aftertaste. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsAug 14, 2012
Whatever director Peter Hedges' intent, the movie itself, a sentimental blend of magical realism and saccharine emotions, is oddly false. It made me want to go on a sugar cleanse. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 14, 2012
Kids are too smart to fall for it, and any grown-up who thinks that The Odd Life of Timothy Green is funny or heartwarming has a head made out of cabbage. Read full review
25
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 14, 2012
The word "sappy" comes to mind, constantly. So often that I wanted to make like a tree and leaf. Frankly I'm stumped, wondering exactly who the audience is for such a drab slab of saccharine uplift. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianAug 12, 2012
Disney draws a big fat bullseye on the fast-growing infertile-couple demographic with this airless misfire. Read full review
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