Reviews for this film from our members:
- [New – 5/22/14] | Dragan Antulov @ Draxblog VI [Croatian]
- [New – 5/22/14] | Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: In short, The Book Thief tried really hard to have us care, but it goes on for far too long and it is a victim of its own ambitions.
- José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Flojísima adaptación de la novela súper ventas de Markus Zusak. Falta de emoción y totalmente mecánica, la historia de una niña en medio del horror de la Segunda Guerra Mundial huele a cine pensado para acaparar nominaciones por los cuatro costados. Les ha salido mal.
- Edwin Arnaudin @ Ashvegas
- Excerpt: In what should be its unique angle, the film is narrated by death (Roger Allam), unseen beyond his occasional handiwork. Instead of playing up this notion, however, his comments are infrequently inserted, often with lengthy stretches in between.
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: …presenting not one single idea that hasn’t been flogged down to the bone over the past 60 years, and spackling over its emaciated drama with suffocating production values.
- Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Una película que no se decide entre ser “La vida es bella” o “La lista de Schindler”
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …a worthy cast hamstrung by poor directorial choices…
- Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río [Spanish]
- Excerpt: La ladrona de libros es una novela preciosa de Markus Zusak de 2006, y ahora Hollywood ha hecho la adaptación en una producción muy cuidada (¡incluso tiene música de John Williams!) que nunca acaba de funcionar.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: There is one narrative conceit in The Book Thief that is so wrongheaded it serves to undermine both the movie’s specific and greater story.
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: A schmaltzy, gently engaging, well-crafted, historical melodrama that lacks the magical realism of Zusak’s novel.
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Young actress Sophie Nélisseis positively hypnotic in the role and I would follow her on any adventure. A large part of why the chronicle succeeds is because of her charisma.
- Travis Hopson @ Punch Drunk Critics
- Excerpt: The horrors of the holocaust are cast aside in favor of a distinctly Spielbergian coming-of-age tale that is too simple to properly depict the ugliness of the period.
- Blake Howard @ Graffiti with Punctuation
- Excerpt: The Book Thief fails to weave the intimate magic on the page into a moving screen story. Instead of being warmed around this campfire you feel distant and cold; emotionally mute.
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Thoughtful tweens and teens interested in history and unusual adventurous stories of kids their own age should love this, but adults may find the lightness of the tone off-putting.
- Ben Kendrick @ Screen Rant
- Excerpt: Short Version: Solid drama and performances but fails to develop core relationships and ideas.
- Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer
- Excerpt: Death as the chief storyteller sees The Book Thief play like a twee YA José Saramago adaptation run amok
- Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: Unfortunately, for all the good here, the final result – as cornball and mawkish as Hollywood can make ‘em – feels flat-out phony.
- Nuno Reis @ Antestreia [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Quem vê muitos filmes até poderá esquecer que este em particular existiu, mas decerto recordará o sentimento, os valores a preservar, e aqueles olhos inquisidores que brilhavam durante a leitura. É portanto, um filme que tem a sua missão cumprida.
- Jamie S. Rich @ Oregon Live
- Excerpt: The Book Thief renders a dark history in the most bland and inoffensive hues.
- Josh Spiegel @ Sound on Sight
- Excerpt: With voiceover from the Grim Reaper, The Book Thief is a well-acted but somewhat ill-intentioned drama.
- Kent Turner @ School Library Journal
