The Red Turtle
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: January 20, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueMatthew AndersonMay 25, 2017
From its first moments, The Red Turtle is a captivating ultra-sensory experience; sounds are crisp and images are hand-drawn perfection. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJan 26, 2017
The ensuing story about life and love is made visually compelling by exquisitely crafted animation, much of it drawn in the bold and refreshing ligne claire style pioneered by the Belgian cartoonist (and Tintin creator) Hergé. That counterintuitive contrast with the mysterious, unspoken tale only makes this unusual film all the more intriguing. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 20, 2017
The Red Turtle benefits from being open to all sorts of possibilities and interpretations because we sense that Dudok de Wit respects our imaginings. He allows them to take shape right alongside his own. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernJan 19, 2017
Lavish with stunning imagery, the experience will ripple into your dreams. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 19, 2017
This exquisite animated feature, directed by Michael Dudok de Wit, has no dialogue, only the sounds of water, wind and birds, the occasional strains of Laurent Perez del Mar’s graceful score; and images of a young castaway living out the stages of his life on a desert island after giant storm waves hurl him onto a beach. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 17, 2016
The Red Turtle is a visually stunning poetic fable, but there’s more on its mind than simply beauty. Read full review
100
IndieWireEric KohnMay 21, 2016
This is a quiet little masterpiece of images, each one rich with meaning, that collectively speak to a universal process. Read full review
100
Screen DailyLisa NesselsonMay 21, 2016
This is, quite simply, thoughtful and ultimately moving animation at its best. Read full review
100
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 21, 2016
Michael Dudok de Wit’s hypnotizing, entirely dialogue-free The Red Turtle is a fable so simple, so pure, it feels as if it has existed for hundreds of years, like a brilliant shard of sea glass rendered smooth and elegant through generations of retelling. Read full review
91
The PlaylistAndrew CrumpJan 19, 2017
The Red Turtle is poetry made cinema, an exquisite existential allegory that says everything without having to say anything at all. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayNov 16, 2016
The Red Turtle nevertheless remains throughout a simple, gripping story of survival, deriving its sense of adventure from the most basic plot imaginable: Here’s a human being, stranded in a strange place, using his strength, intelligence, and courage to forge some kind of a life for himself. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonFeb 23, 2017
Once you’re on its wavelength, the film is a mesmerizing experience. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughFeb 23, 2017
The ending is deeply moving. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldFeb 15, 2017
The Red Turtle doesn’t answer the questions it raises, but it doesn’t need to; it’s about moonlight on the water, a hand held out to another, and the way a wave, rippling onto a shore, leaves no trace of its brief life. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 9, 2017
The grace, elegance, carefully muted color palette and gradual acknowledgment of life's milestones lift The Red Turtle far above the average so-called "family-friendly" animation. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJan 20, 2017
One of those rare animated movies that transports you to a different setting without demanding that you focus on narrative or character development. Read full review
83
The Film StageRory O'ConnorMay 21, 2016
Despite there being no dialogue and very few characters, the film consistently celebrates the excitement of exploration and invention while also keeping the audience aware of the man’s growing frustrations. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyMay 22, 2017
Dudok de Wit and Ghibli have birthed a pan-continental marvel: a fable-cum-fantasy of a life adrift, aching with tender beauty and awed by nature’s extremes. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 23, 2017
The Red Turtle -- without saying a word -- offers much more than the standard animated film. It offers food for thought, cause for contemplation, and an appreciation for the beauty of being. Read full review
80
SlateSam AdamsJan 21, 2017
Like Ghibli’s classic films, especially Hayao Miyazaki’s, it lavishes as much attention on the natural world as the creatures who inhabit it. But though it has the shape of a fairy tale, The Red Turtle’s perspective is distinctly adult, and its vision of nature is harsher than Miyazaki’s. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 18, 2017
The movie has the proportion of a fable but the scope of a mythical lifetime. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 21, 2016
Though there isn’t a single word of dialogue in the film’s 80-minute running time, the big questions it asks, about ambition, acceptance and the beauty of companionship, ring loud in every heart-melting frame. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniFeb 16, 2017
The story is simple, illogical, mysterious, strange, and, of course, very, very sparse. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 15, 2017
Lacking even a line of dialogue and using hand-drawn images, The Red Turtle is more about feel and look than narrative. The story is a means to convey illustrations and emotions. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoJan 26, 2017
One of the charms of The Red Turtle is a chance to savor the joys of clean and simple animation suggestive of the old hand-drawn school, which is part of what makes the film, a quiet, humanistic fable, one of the best of its kind in memory. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJan 26, 2017
If de Wit’s idea of story is sometimes gratingly simplistic and sentimental, there’s no denying its primal classicism, or the seductive pull of sound and image at their most pure and unfussy. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJan 16, 2017
A pointed simplicity governs Michael Dudok de Wit's The Red Turtle, one that’s traditional of many survival tales. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 19, 2017
The Red Turtle practices a minor, gentle magic. It wants you to smile and say, “Ahh,” rather than gasp and say, “Wow.” But somehow the understatement can feel a bit overdone, as if the film were hovering over you, awaiting an expression of admiration. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMay 21, 2016
While the plot can sometimes feel too lightweight for feature length, with a score by composer Laurent Perez del Mar (Now or Never) that tends to overdo it on the gushy side, The Red Turtle benefits from the beautiful animation work of Dudok de Wit and his team. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisFeb 15, 2017
Whatever your perspective, there’s one thing for sure: The Red Turtle is unlike anything else you’ve seen in a while. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 16, 2017
It’s all pretty enough, but this is lesser Ghibli, more a “Borrowers” than a “Ponyo,” an animated bauble as hollow as a turtle shell purse. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJordon HoffmanJan 20, 2017
The animated feature The Red Turtle is about as far as you can get from a typical cartoon movie musical. Except for a few tsunami crashes and howls, this lovely but tortoise-paced work from the celebrated Japanimation house Studio Ghibli is basically a silent film. Read full review
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