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Critic Reviews

You'll likely guess every twist and turn in the plot. But I like to think these movies aren't made to surprise but rather to entertain somewhat passively.

-Kevin CarrFull Review

Christian McKay's impersonation of young Orson Welles is sensational in this enjoyable, though slight, historical fiction about a teen who spends a memorable week with the legendary wonder.

-Kirk Honeycutt

Not a comedy tsunami, just consistent ripples of laughs and good vibes.

-Full Review

The very name Orson Welles stands for genius wasted and betrayed, and the movie offers some foreshadowing of his triumphs and failures to come.

-Liam LaceyFull Review

A thoroughly enjoyable film that wraps a coming-of-age story around the portrait of a genius.

-Tom LongFull Review

It's probably not the kind of animated adventure that's going to garner Oscar talk, but it's a good-hearted, old-fashioned, family-friendly tale.

-Richard Roeper

It's an open question as to who, outside theater geeks, will find this inside-baseball approach quite as fascinating as Linklater apparently does.

-Michael O'SullivanFull Review

If you have to see one penguin movie, this is it.

-James BerardinelliFull Review

I forgot that I was looking at an actor. I really believed I was looking at Welles.

-Mick LaSalleFull Review

Not exactly awash in cleverness, but it is good clean fun for the family.

-Claudia PuigFull Review

Working with the fact-based eponymous novel by Robert Kaplow, first-time screenwriters Holly Gent Palmo and Vince Palmo are content to follow the contours of a standard behind-the-scenes story about the staging of a play.

-Peter HowellFull Review

Surf's Up is quite surprisingly good, going for the subtle chuckle where Happy Feet opted for show-stopping spectacle.

-Rob SalemFull Review

Me and Orson Welles is a little velvet sack of diamonds. It's a sparkling love letter to a gigantic talent, a romance, a comedy, a drama.

-Colin CovertFull Review

The movie has just as much in common with This Is Spinal Tap or even Dogtown and Z-Boys as the cutesy and formulaic films that typically get churned out this time of year.

-Peter HartlaubFull Review

Linklater's film adaptation succeeds in bringing the flamboyant Welles to life, without resorting to caricature (although a few vintage Al Hirschfelds adorn the walls).

-Steven ReaFull Review

Surf's Up! has a jokey-serious tone that engages both children and adults.

-Carrie RickeyFull Review

A real charmer, Me and Orson Welles is the work of a director who takes nostalgia, romantic possibility and the theater seriously, without being a pill about it.

-Michael PhillipsFull Review

The first delightful surprise among the summer blockbusters. Beautifully animated, terrifically acted and edited in a way that hilariously mimics those Endless Summer surf documentaries, it will amuse kids and flat-out tickle adults.

-Roger MooreFull Review

The impersonation of Welles by Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles is the centerpiece of the film, and from it, all else flows. We can almost accept that this is the Great Man.

-Roger EbertFull Review

The jaunty sports story contains colorful characters, witty wisecracks and kinetic surf scenes. It's refreshing to see an animated family film that doesn't look like it was made on autopilot.

-Lisa RoseFull Review

Welles comes off as an imperious, duplicitous, philandering brat. But he's also funny, seductive, and ingenious.

-Jeremy McCarterFull Review

Maybe the next penguin flick will do more justice to the subject. How about going all grindhouse in Lesbian Vampire Penguins of the SS?

-Kyle SmithFull Review

You feel a little bit what it was like to sit in that theater on opening night. You also feel like what it was and what it still is to be a young person infatuated with writing, with art, with theater...

-A.O. ScottFull Review

Many of the riffs in the mock documentary might be lost on little tykes, but the film's feel-good message of perseverance, friendship and finding your own wave should be enjoyed by all.

-Kevin CrustFull Review

What do you say about a movie that proves Zac Efron can act, introduces a master thespian in Christian McKay and launches a charm assault that is damn near irresistible?

-Peter TraversFull Review

The film's tubular visuals and sun-struck philosophizing celebrate the sport while spoofing its disciples, mixing B-grade potty humor and totally-like-fried-chicken gags with faux interviews a la Christopher Guest.

-Amy BiancolliFull Review

Efron's fix on the period suggests a GPS struggling in a low-signal area, and the movie becomes an affectionate, name-dropping exercise in historical mutilation.

-Joe MorgensternFull Review


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