You nevertheless can't help but be swept up in the kids' enthusiasms and aspirations and gobs of energy.

It's played with real zest and energy, and if you can stand the heat it gives off it may charm you despite yourself.

There's powerful craft here, and Larsson's story has more than proven its ability to grip. But missing almost entirely is a sense of urgency and discovery.

Rita, Sue and Bob Too, also adapted by a playwright (Andrea Dunbar) from her own work, is more an out-and-out raucous, raunchy comedy, although hardly a madcap, farcical romp. [03 Oct 1987, p.C08]

After the terrifying grotesques that were the live-action "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Cat in the Hat," it was easy to dread a feature-length Horton Hears a Who!. But -- surprise -- the computer-animated "Horton" is largely funny and faithful to the spirit of the Dr. Seuss book.

If any of what he says makes sense to you -- and even if it’s only a small piece, it’s terrifying -- then you’ll want to invest in gold and organic seeds and friendly relations with your nearest neighbors. You know: JUST IN CASE.....

Thrilling. [22 Jan 1993, p.AE15]

Piquant, playful, and, in many ways, just as appealing as blockbusters such as "Pride and Prejudice."

An unforgettable movie with a message that is likely to add wrinkles to your conception of what it means to be a good steward of the Earth.

May not be as successful as it is ambitious, but you could do worse than to spend a few hours there.

Burstyn is astonishing, forsaking all vanity to make silly biddy Sara a fully dimensioned human being.

Three impeccably cast actors are fully engaged in something like a psychological thriller that has much of the crushing weight and lingering pain of grown-up life on this Earth.

It IS a film that deflates you too often, despite its efforts to impart a sense of soaring. In the end, where the Wild Things are is in your imagination and in Sendak’s pages, not in this big-hearted but ultimately faint simulation.

There's a lot of pleasure in seeing a mature filmmaker put together something so intricate with what seems like so little strain.

A draggy affair livened occasionally by bursts of color or raw emotion, but just as often convoluted and hackneyed. It's a case of a film taking on, admirably, more than it can chew.

Built on an absolutely marvelous idea but manages to make only about two-thirds of a good movie of it.

Some truly memorable moments, but they come early and, as the film wears its way along, become increasingly hard to call to mind.

Devolves into a contrived, coincidence-driven, by-the-numbers thriller in its final act. That's not to say the movie's a failure. It's impossible to dismiss a film that starts out as such a sensuous, existential crime story.

Grim, sordid and, as it progresses, increasingly dunderheaded.

Allen's newest film is his best artistic work in years. [20 Aug 1993, p.AE17]

It's a little depressing to see such a thrilling talent deployed in such an ordinary and sordid movie. Training Day isn't awful, but it's absolutely nothing special.

His life stands as a testament to the idea that an average-looking bloke with a can-do attitude and a dream in his heart can rub shoulders with the folks the rest of us only get to read about. And he's got the photographs to prove it.

A decent-enough treat for fans of this particular Gallic genre.

The best thing about the film is the acting of the guys.

It's fast, it's sure, it's violent and it's fun, even as it sometimes pushes the limits of ready coherence or dramatic plausibility.

The storytelling -- the script is co-written by Verhoeven's old collaborator Gerard Soeteman -- is messy, and the result never feels real or human or vital.

Next Goal Wins isn't the most slickly made documentary, and its chronology can be confusing at times. But, despite a bit of salty language, it's an inspiring, never-say-die chronicle for all ages.

The film may have its troubled spots, but its poignant depiction of human tenderness more than compensates for them. [18 Nov 1994, p.17]