The Rocket
Kino Lorber | Release Date: January 10, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 23, 2013
Mordaunt’s eye indicates a thoughtful filmmaker able to listen to the winds of what a movie needs. Effortlessly natural, his workmanlike craft carries the capacity to keep an ear open to happenstance. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 9, 2014
Watching Ahlo mix his explosives is like watching a Cordon Bleu chef whipping up a stupendous soufflé.
85
Film.comJordan HoffmanDec 23, 2013
The kid performances are impressive and the subtext of a region still shaking off the effects of a long-ended war gives seed to some much needed discussion. Read full review
80
Total FilmSimon KinnearMar 10, 2014
This strikingly original feelgood fable is artfully balanced between director Kim Mordaunt’s roots in documentary and a spellbinding magic realism. Read full review
80
EmpireAngie ErrigoMar 10, 2014
A stirring, lushly-constructed celebration of youthful spirit. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJohn Oursler Jan 9, 2014
The Rocket's ample pleasures come from Mordaunt localizing this tested formula rather than trying to reinvent it. Read full review
80
VarietyRonnie ScheibDec 23, 2013
Mordaunt previously directed a docu in Laos that featured kids who sold unexploded bombs for scrap metal, and that earlier experience invests this feature’s characters and milieu with an absolute integrity. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineNick McCarthyJan 10, 2014
The particulars of Laos's historical conflicts are sometimes only obliquely confronted, but the torrid past of covered-up wars palpably echoes through the scarred yet majestic landscapes. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenJan 16, 2014
Australian writer-director Kim Mordaunt doesn't always succeed at balancing the sentimental, the political and the ethnographic, but at its strongest the story is a seamless melding of history's dark undertow and a child's indefatigable optimism. Read full review
70
NPRMark JenkinsJan 10, 2014
Yes, The Rocket is a sports movie, with an outcome that's easily foreseen. The cultural specifics of this Laos-set tale, however, are far less predictable. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisJan 9, 2014
What gives this movie its sting is that, despite Mr. Mordaunt’s insistent attempts at uplift, death hovers over this story at every single moment. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithJan 10, 2014
Long on atmosphere and less sentimental about poverty than “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” the film carries a potent charge of authenticity. Read full review
60
Time OutAndrew FrisicanoJan 8, 2014
Kim Mordaunt’s when-life-gives-you-land-mines tale is light on well-drawn characters, but its performances, especially from the nonprofessional junior members, more than light the fuse for the finale. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeDec 23, 2013
Young actor Sitthiphon Disamoe helps keep the tale of a can-do kid from becoming too cute. Read full review
50
The DissolveNoah BerlatskyJan 9, 2014
The Rocket is a well-constructed delivery system for sparkly cheer, but it lacks a more substantial payload. Read full review
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