Wall Street Journal's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Select another publication »
For 3,942 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 44% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 Les Misérables
Lowest review score: 0 The Limits of Control
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,101 out of 3942
  2. Mixed: 1,197 out of 3942
  3. Negative: 644 out of 3942
3942 movie reviews
view
per page
  1. Lilo & Stitch
    This screwball comedy about a scrappy Hawaiian kid and the rabidly destructive little alien she mistakes for a dog is powered by ferocious joy. And, remarkably, it manages to incorporate traditional Disney values, such as the sanctity of the family, in a visually bold, subversively witty package that's as far from corporate as mainstream movies get.
    • Wall Street Journal
  2. Windtalkers
    The Navajos must have sent much more crucial messages at much higher levels during the war, but you'd never know it from this movie. Windtalkers is practically all action and no talk.
    • Wall Street Journal
  3. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
    Essentially a coming-of-age story set in working-class North Carolina in the 1970s. But it's so startlingly original that it transcends the genre. This is a wonderful film, from puckish start to momentous finish.
    • Wall Street Journal
  4. The Emperor's New Clothes
    The blithely dishonest script would have us believe that the real Napoleon can't prove his identity when the fake Napoleon refuses to come clean. Not only is that patent nonsense, it's cockeyed dramaturgy.
    • Wall Street Journal
  5. The Bourne Identity
    The outcome is distinctive and entertaining. There's no way you'd mistake this for James Bond, and no reason you would want to.
    • Wall Street Journal
  6. Cherish
    I paid steadfast attention, both to the actress, a performer of unusual versatility, and to the character she plays, a caged -- and cagey -- bird who sings because she's too stubborn to cry.
    • Wall Street Journal
  7. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
    The movie finally comes together into something that is genuinely -- and almost quietly -- stirring.
    • Wall Street Journal
  8. The Sum of All Fears
    The last thing we need is entertainment that evokes the horror and then trivializes it with cheesy heroics. Never has a movie taken on a subject of greater immediacy, or handled it more ineptly.
    • Wall Street Journal
  9. CQ
    Exceptionally likable and affecting as well as entertaining.
    • Wall Street Journal
  10. Insomnia
    This one is nowhere near as original -- it's a flawed remake of a fine first feature from Norway -- but "Insomnia" still stands on its own as a thriller with brains and scenic beauty.
    • Wall Street Journal
  11. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
    It's classic animation wedded to modern technology -- painted pictures that move in magical splendor.
    • Wall Street Journal
  12. About a Boy
    Better than a feelgood movie, it's a feelgreat movie -- genuinely clever, affecting when you least expect it to be and funny from start to finish.
    • Wall Street Journal
  13. The Believer
    What it's about is also what it requires for proper appreciation -- the ability of the human mind to hold, and even cherish, diametrically opposite thoughts.
    • Wall Street Journal
  14. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
    For all its video-game bedazzlements, Attack of the Clones suffers from severe digital glut, periodically relieved, if you can call it that, by amateur theatrics.
    • Wall Street Journal
  15. Unfaithful
    Meticulously crafted and beautifully performed.
    • Wall Street Journal
  16. The Lady and the Duke
    That Mr. Rohmer is an octogenarian just beginning to play with digital technology makes the venture even more intriguing.
    • Wall Street Journal
  17. Hollywood Ending
    It's thanks to her (Leoni) that we stay tuned to Mr. Allen's comic premise long after it has gone from delightfully outrageous to off-puttingly preposterous.
    • Wall Street Journal
  18. Spider-Man
    Every action adventure needs a memorable villain, but no movie needs the strident intensity of Mr. Dafoe, who either has no interest in, or no grasp of, the sort of charmingly malign wit that Gene Hackman brought to "Superman," or Jack Nicholson to "Batman."
    • Wall Street Journal
  19. Rain
    Through exquisite details, evocative music and bold dramatic strokes -- including a tragedy that transcends the melodrama it might have been -- Rain renders this family's life in its full dimensions.
    • Wall Street Journal
  20. Life or Something Like It
    Every now and then, though, a movie comes up with a scene of surpassing stupidity, and then builds from that defining moment to a climax of perfect ineptitude. Life or Something Like It is such an achievement.
    • Wall Street Journal
  21. Dogtown and Z-Boys
    An improbably bountiful subject -- kids on skateboards turning themselves into virtuoso artist-athletes -- has been brought to life in a wonderful, unpretentious documentary.
    • Wall Street Journal
  22. The Scorpion King
    Predictably dumber than its predecessors, though that shouldn't get in the way of its profitability.
    • Wall Street Journal
  23. Murder by Numbers
    The shallow-seated problem with Murder by Numbers is that it's serious and doggedly intricate but not much fun.
    • Wall Street Journal
  24. Nine Queens
    An accomplished and enjoyable Spanish-language debut feature by Fabían Bielinsky.
    • Wall Street Journal
  25. World Traveler
    A small story, a monodrama with a hero but no antagonists.
    • Wall Street Journal
  26. Space Station 3D
    Truly transporting film.
    • Wall Street Journal
  27. Human Nature
    A hoot, or at least a collection of delightful hootlets hung on a short, frayed line.
    • Wall Street Journal
  28. Changing Lanes
    A curious combination of strident preachment and smartly farcical thriller; it's heavy-handed and light-footed at the same time.
    • Wall Street Journal
  29. The Cat's Meow
    The script is dead in the water, and most of the misanthropic repartee rings resoundingly false.
    • Wall Street Journal
  30. Lucky Break
    A minor comedy, though a major delight.
    • Wall Street Journal
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »