Metacritic reviews

Tuneful, colorful, delightful.

It's practically a primer on how to rework a literary classic into an impressively restrained movie with something fresh and intelligent to say.

It's both innocent and bizarre, with a mischievous sense of fantasy marked by simple but striking cinematic magic.

Told with the simplicity and beauty of a child's fairy tale, but with emotional undertones and a surrealistic style that adults are more likely to appreciate.

Seasonally it's more appropriate as a May Day bacchanal, but in any month Demy's movie makes for an evocative globe-paperweight tableau of its place and time, and a concise demonstration of the disquietude inherent in classic fairy tales.

An enjoyable hour-and-a-half for adults that creates a wholly unique world of colorful sets, costumes, and characters.

It doesn't come off, despite a dazzling color design and imaginative sets, perhaps because Demy's extremely rarefied talent for fantasy needs to be anchored by a touch of the real.