66
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNew York PostFarran Smith NehmeMore likely to play well with older children, due to its split-up story line, Ocelot's creation is like nothing else they are likely to see animating the multiplex.
- 80EmpireDavid ParkinsonEmpireDavid ParkinsonA delight from start to finish.
- 75Slant MagazineJoseph Jon LanthierSlant MagazineJoseph Jon LanthierMichel Ocelot's recent cartoons cleverly advance Lotte Reiniger's prototypical stop-motion technique into the digital age.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe film is intended for family audiences. It is so gentle and whimsical that one wonders if American children, accustomed to the whiz-bang action of most animation, will accept it. Maybe there would be hope for the younger ones - but what will they make of the subtitles?
- The narratives - involving princesses, sorcerers, dragons, talking animals - are familiar. But Mr. Ocelot invigorates them with lyricism: silhouettes evoke shadow plays, and often brilliant palettes reflect the cultures presented.
- 63Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrTales, which (as the title suggests) is an "Arabian Nights"-style omnibus, has similarly eye-bending backgrounds but a creatively monochromatic foreground that comes to feel like a limitation.
- 60The GuardianThe GuardianThe pick-and-mix approach is limiting, but there's no denying these are gorgeous amuse-bouches, likely to be devoured by older, more discerning children and dyed-in-the-wool stoners alike.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfThe film feels naive for an audience that's ready for some harder truths.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceThe stories are quick, tiny surveys of a given culture's conventions told as monomythic, Joseph Campbell–ish pastiches and animated with fluidity and deliberateness that nearly excuses the film's slightness.
- In each story the imagery dazzles at first, then becomes somewhat dreary; Ocelot's storytelling never quite matches his visual abilities.