Willard
New Line Cinema | Release Date: March 14, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
6
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatKevin Carr
Willard doesn’t try to be great art (although if you really think about it, there are plenty of themes borrowed from “Hamlet,” “The Birds” and “Frankenstein” to name a few). Willard just is. Read full review
90
TimeJoel Stein
Glover, as usual, is phenomenal. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Cooly feral in dark suit and tie, Glover’s the man in the gray flannel suit gone way, way over the edge, and it’s one of the most fully realized screen performances in ages, rats and all. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
The "Citizen Kane" of rat movies makes for a terrific overhaul in this wonderfully entertaining and, yes, touching take on that terribly confused man/child named Willard. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
In a culture clogged with appropriated effluvia and remake cop-outs, Willard is wittier and nastier than we deserve. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
It's one of many references to the movie-wise, but a resonant one, for Glover's performance turns out to be shockingly emotional, drawn as daringly close to the bone -- within this story's limited thematic range -- as Anthony Perkins' work in Hitchcock's seminal film. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It only takes rat trainers and CGI artists to create swarms of vermin, but it takes a twisted kind of genius to treat them as equals. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This is a one-riff movie and instant cult classic. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Wonderfully deranged. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
A silly, snarling romp -- a fun (if you're in the mood for it), sometimes scary look at the life of a socially awkward man whose best friend is a white rodent he names Socrates. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Has the modesty of a savvy, smart drive-in movie with Hollywood studio polish and a movie buff's loving care. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKevin M. Williams
This faithful resurrection of the original "Willard," a twisted gem in its own right, also is funny. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The new version is actually better. It's still a fairly ham-handed revenge-of-the-nerd horror fable, but you don't go to a movie like Willard for subtlety. You go to be skeeved out by rats, rats, and more rats, and I'm tempted to say that Willard does a fairly rat-tastic job of it. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Morgan never reaches the heights the film probably would have hit if had been directed by Tim Burton, whose style is frequently evoked -- especially Shirley Walker's playful score, which seems channeled directly from Burton's frequent collaborator Danny Elfman. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Want your skin to crawl? This one's for you. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The new Willard, which has taken the original's humanity and the psychological validity, leavened with a dollop of dark humor, and replaced them with a technically impressive but essentially heartless spoof. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Has plenty of dark horror style, but it lacks the weird charm of the 1971 original starring Bruce Davison...It's a nice homage. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Simply twiddling with the fine-tuning on the central character is not enough to warrant remaking a film. Both Glover and Willard deserve better. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is real wit in Glover's performance. And wit, too, in R. Lee Ermey's performance as the boss, which draws heavily on Ermey's real-life experience as a drill sergeant. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Glover, wearing his close-cropped hair in a pompadour and striking beady-eyed, furrow-browed poses that scare the hair off a tarantula, makes it as much fun as a rat revenge movie can be. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The pleasure comes from watching the clever rodents do their stuff. Computerized images have been kept to a minimum, and real animals provide most of the film's atmosphere. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
As filler for the long, dry winter movie season, the movie is more than passable, and its sense of humor has a wicked, unforgiving spin that is decidedly pro-rodent. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The chills are functional at best and the attempts at pathos negligible. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
The movie isn't without style, but the material can't remotely sustain 100 minutes. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ray Conlogue
Perhaps too much energy was spent on being stylish rather than simply low-rent horrifying. The upshot is not very stylish and not very scary. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
As high camp, Willard might have something going for it, but not as a horror movie. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Production-designed within an inch of its life, this remake's best conceit is the casting of Crispin Glover as its socially maladroit rat fancier. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
You're just sitting there, somewhere between mildly amused and fairly bored, watching the filmmakers squander Hollywood's most eccentric character actor and a lot of very fine specimens of the order Rodentia. Read full review
30
VarietyScott Foundas
Strictly for the birds. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Everything that was modest, soundly grounded and therefore horrifying about the 1971 rodentarama that starred Bruce Davison is now insistent, Grand-Guignol-intense and therefore shrug-offable when it isn't downright awful.
20
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The worst flaw of Willard is a clunky tone-deaf screenplay based on Gilbert Ralston's original and updated by the director. Barely a line flies by that doesn't land with a wooden thud. Read full review
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