52
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelIt is good to see the Disney craftsmen doing what they do best on such a grand and risky scale. If one has time for only one space opera this season, this is the one to choose.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA triumph of style over substance.
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinThe Black Hole is attractively unpretentious and at times quite snappy.
- 60EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanA pretty craven attempt by Disney to cash-in on Star Wars blockbusting success, this lightweight but well-written sci-fi adventure movie is well pitched at the very young. More discerning fans of the genre would do well to smother their indignation at the levels of general plagiarism floating around the deck of the supership Cygnus.
- 60Washington PostGary ArnoldWashington PostGary ArnoldDespite its obviously derivative elements and lack of flair in certain areas, notably writing and casting, the movie is at worst an entertaining redundancy, a brisk and diverting pastiche of familiar science-fiction adventure hokum. [24 Dec 1979, p.C1]
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertTakes us all the way to the rim of space only to bog us down in a talky melodrama whipped up out of mad scientists and haunted houses.
- 50Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrGary Nelson's direction is very bad, the writing is weak, and the acting campy at best—but Peter Ellenshaw's production design strikes the right balance of vastness and seductive detail.
- 40Time OutTime OutThe company's effects team have excelled themselves in the creation of spectacular settings and holograms, but the script reads as though they simply ordered up a melange of Forbidden Planet and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (with a little bit of R2D2 on the side). Next time around they ought to pension off a few designers to pay for a decent screenplay.
- 33The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe Black Hole will likely bore anyone not immediately captivated by V.I.N.CENT, the prissy, Cicero-quoting robot with a voice provided by Roddy McDowall and a body that looks like an art-nouveau reinterpretation of a can of beans.