Wonderstruck
Metropolitan Filmexport | Release Date: October 20, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TimeStephanie ZacharekMay 24, 2017
Wonderstruck embraces so many shimmery, evanescent ideas, it’s a marvel that any one picture—let alone one you can take your kids to—can hold them. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 23, 2017
Alive with the magic of pictures and the mysteries of silence, this is an uncommonly grownup film about children, communication, connection and memory. Read full review
91
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 23, 2017
This is a soul-stirring and fiercely uncynical film that suggests the entire world is a living museum for the people we’ve lost, and that we should all hope to leave some of ourselves behind in its infinite cabinet of wonders. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 19, 2017
Though it takes its time, Wonderstruck — like the best tales of wonder — resolves all its mysteries as the plot's disparate strands come together in a lovely way. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 19, 2017
Mr. Selznick’s emphasis on wonder...can feel bullying, as if he were demanding delight instead of earning it. Yet even as he follows Mr. Selznick’s narrative lead, Mr. Haynes quietly and touchingly makes Wonderstruck his own because the wonder of the film isn’t in its story but in its telling. Read full review
90
Village VoiceBilge EbiriOct 18, 2017
There is so much packed in here; Wonderstruck is simultaneously the densest and loosest film Haynes has made. And, like many stories based on books for children, much of it makes more emotional than logical sense. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonNov 9, 2017
Based on a book by Brian Selznick, Wonderstruck is a visually striking film that’s uncompromising in its approach — less about narrative momentum than about surrendering to the power of images. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 26, 2017
The performances, including a sweetly sincere and easygoing turn from the deaf actress Simmonds, become the audience’s way into Wonderstruck. Read full review
88
IGNAlex WelchOct 19, 2017
Wonderstruck is another emotional and visually gorgeous outing from director Todd Haynes. Read full review
85
Paste MagazineTim GriersonMay 25, 2017
He’s not really reinventing or subverting a genre. Rather, Haynes is applying the same smarts and curiosity he always does, openly questioning why a kids’ film can’t be as absorbing and thoughtful as any other kind. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 23, 2017
Wonderstruck lives in the glory of its filmmaking — its photography, its costuming, its set design, its brilliantly variegated Carter Burwell score. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensOct 26, 2017
Wonderstruck strikes a curious emotional tone, alternating between suspense and quiet wistfulness, with sudden surges of operatic intensity as the two timelines begin to connect. Still, all the moods hang together like the movements of a piece of classical music expressing different tempos: allegro, adagio, andante. Read full review
80
VoxAlissa WilkinsonMay 23, 2017
It trusts its audience, adult and child alike, to feel its theme, to knit themselves into its multigenerational fabric. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeMay 23, 2017
As an innovative filmmaker who naturally chimes with the perspective of the outsider looking in, Haynes takes a semi-graphic novel which comes with a strong visual identity, and makes it very much his own. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 23, 2017
Haynes’s vision of two New Yorks, a half-century apart, is a marvel of nested detail, never overbearing, and interested in things rusted and forgotten rather than shiny and new. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenNov 1, 2017
Wonderstruck’s portrayal of deaf experiences and its adult treatment of childhood mysteries are original, and the way Haynes weaves it all together with gossamer strands gives this movie wings. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 6, 2017
Adults are invited to tap into the magic of childhood adventure, the magical realism that connects these kids across the ages. Kids may be challenged by its arcane history, its connections and coincidences and its pacing, but rewarded for paying close attention to the mystery the movie asks us to help solve. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzOct 26, 2017
Haynes and Selznick do get a bit too, well, wonderstruck by their own project, which blinds them to one central narrative pivot that is more annoying than awe-inspiring. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 26, 2017
Wonderstruck is a smart and interesting and well-acted film. We’re just never really struck with … wonder. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 26, 2017
Even a ravishingly shot finale — Queens has never looked so enchanting — can’t quite paper over the weak resolution of the plot’s central mystery. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 25, 2017
I walked out of the movie on a cloud of happiness that was only slightly dissipated after a night’s sleep. A critical acquaintance found the whole thing much too icky-sticky sweet. It may be a generational issue. Read full review
75
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerOct 19, 2017
Wonderstruck is full of ache and of loss, and each stings just a little differently. The ache of a movie-that-could-have-been stings less than the rest, but it’s there, and more’s the pity. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 19, 2017
A film of extraordinary details that adds up to less than the sum of its parts. But, oh, it gives a lovely light. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneOct 16, 2017
The result is itself a kind of diorama: exquisitely detailed, assembled with infinite care, but lacking the breath of life. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 9, 2017
Always lovely to observe, Wonderstruck never entirely grasps the magic of the coincidences it requires. Themes are emotional yet Haynes’ obsession with visual detailing can drain their meaning. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 17, 2017
For all of the time-warp elegance, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Haynes has authored more of an exercise than a movie: a lovingly assembled flashback pastiche whose emotional core remains oddly theoretical. Read full review
67
The Film StageRory O'ConnorMay 23, 2017
Haynes fails to impart Wonderstruck with the sort of zip that gives young persons’ capers like these the pacing they require. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldOct 31, 2017
Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck is one of those films that I wanted to like far more than I actually did. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonOct 26, 2017
Wonderstruck, for all of it’s child-in-danger plotting, has a warmth that points (along with the title) to a safe and sentimental conclusion.... When it arrives, though, it lands with a curious lack of emotional impact — perhaps inevitable, given the nature of a story that seeks to connect characters who are rarely and sometimes never on screen together. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 26, 2017
Wonderstruck is an evocative movie with a vaguely disappointing narrative that, although it reaches a conclusion, doesn’t justify the patience viewers must exhibit to reach that point Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryOct 24, 2017
For all the story’s cosmic echoes across the ages, the pacing just feels off. Still, the approach is inventive. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireOct 20, 2017
Despite what the title suggests, Wonderstruck represents a rare disappointment from master filmmaker Todd Haynes. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartOct 19, 2017
Hard to say what percentage of Haynes’ adult audience will dig this one. I found it lovely to look at and emotionally underwhelming. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittOct 19, 2017
The fantasy-tinged narrative of Wonderstruck, which Brian Selznick adapted from his novel, is where the movie sorely lacks emotional connection. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneOct 7, 2017
Todd Haynes's Wonderstruck is a coming-of-age tale as curiosity cabinet, a flowchart of narrative fragments that steadily build to a high-concept finale as ludicrous as it is emotionally audacious. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraApr 9, 2018
Haynes’ film has lovely performances from both actors, and a keen sense of time and place help, but the story is a little too shaggy and unformed to entirely hold the attention. Read full review
60
The AtlanticDavid SimsNov 20, 2017
In its quieter moments, Wonderstruck occasionally approaches the transcendent, sublime quality Haynes is aiming for—but those times are frustratingly few and far between. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaMay 23, 2017
Wonderstruck gestures at a lot, especially between the two narratives, which Haynes flips between with such rapidity that the film isn’t able to find a tonal groove until well past its halfway point. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 23, 2017
Haynes, working from a script by Selznick, guides and serves the material with supreme craftsmanship. For a while, he casts a spell. Yet one of the film’s noteworthy qualities is that it creates a nearly dizzying sense of anticipation, and the payoff, regrettably, doesn’t live up to it. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonDave CalhounMay 23, 2017
It ends up as a sweet-enough movie, and one that’s full of joy and invention – but also one that feels like a lot of effort has been put into serving a tale that maybe doesn’t fully deserve it. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 28, 2017
It’s the sort of poetic conceit that needs a filmmaker far more rapt and intuitive than Haynes, whose jeweler’s precision keeps everything at an emotional remove. Read full review
40
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 23, 2017
The fraudulent nature of the mystery makes Wonderstruck feel like a technical exercise: albeit one which is enlivened by some great visuals and excellent performances, particularly the wonderful Millicent Simmonds. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 23, 2017
Wonderstruck is sometimes sweet and well-intentioned, but more often indulgent and supercilious. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 25, 2017
Wonderstruck should not be confused for a brilliant but challenging film. Rather, it’s narratively deprived and with entire sections that are completely charmless. Read full review
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