56
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoA heartwarming family fable that parents and kids can enjoy.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSan Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoIt's tear-jerker material but ends up being quite touching, and it's a good choice for family viewing.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasAn exceptional family film, arriving just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Directed with sensitivity by "The Full Monty's" Peter Cattaneo, it is the antithesis of the standard synthetic Hollywood family movie, which is all too often weighed down by ludicrously exaggerated special effects and stunts and glazed over by gross humor.
- 63New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsThough there are no Montys, full or otherwise, the finale will lift you up.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterA fanciful wisp of a film that feels slight at times. It's based on the slender novella "Pobby and Dingan," by Ben Rice, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Yet it winds up making some keen observations on the power of imagination.
- 50VarietyVarietyFrom the first frames, when lollypops are offered to the camera, there's no escaping the saccharine miasma of whimsy enveloping Peter Cattaneo's Opal Dream.
- 50The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe filmmaking here is flat, straight, and thoroughly lacking in poetry, and the script--co-written by Cattaneo, Rice, and Phil Traill--tells instead of showing.
- 40Village VoiceVillage VoiceRush screaming from anything that announces itself as "a movie for children and grown-ups of all ages." Slight and shamelessly saccharine, Opal Dream is devoted to the proposition that it takes an Australian-outback village to validate the imaginary friends of a blond child who is too sensitive for this world but not, alas, for this sappy movie.
- 40The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisA warning to parents everywhere about the dangers of indulging irrational behavior, Opal Dream is a sickly sweet tale of deep dysfunction masquerading as family solidarity.