Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: In an odd way Pretty Horses has been too faithful to the spirit of this somber, fatalistic, melancholy romance, too much a stubborn ode to stoicism, to light any emotional fires. Read more
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News: Read more
Susan Stark, Detroit News: Working from Ted Tally's casually artful script, director Billy Bob Thornton guides Matt Damon, Henry Thomas and Penelope Cruz to their most impressive performances in a major movie yet. Read more
Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News: Comes close to evoking the book's haunting power, its comedy, wisdom and pain about childhoods passing. Read more
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Lovely but disengaging, mysterious but uninvolving, physical but strangely remote. Read more
A.O. Scott, New York Times: A boy's adventure story that has mistaken itself for an epic, and it rattles around in its own ambitions like a child's head in a 10-gallon hat. Read more
Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: [Damon and Cruz's] onscreen chemistry would hardly warm a can of beans. Read more
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: McCarthy deserves a better movie than this. Read more
Paul Tatara, CNN.com: Matt Damon's earthy movie star performance is well worth seeing, but don't go in expecting a sustained sense of drama. Read more
Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Whether you're familiar with the story or not, you'll have trouble feeling connected to it. Read more
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Faced with a choice of blunt instruments with which to beat a good book into a bad movie, director Billy Bob Thornton chooses heavy, random, arty imagery and a leaden pace. Read more
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Read more
Steve Mirarchi, Boston Globe: McCarthy's novel employs the coming of age narrative in service of his sanguineous spiritual vision, and for the film to renounce that philosophy is to give up its soul and be rendered lifeless. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is the kind of movie that's best to see on a big screen, where the size of the sky and the colors of the land can do their work. Read more
Charles Taylor, Salon.com: The weight of myth sits on nearly every frame of the movie like a 400-pound gorilla. Read more
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: An elegiac, visually hypnotic film about love, honor, reverence for nature and the loss of tradition. Read more
Todd McCarthy, Variety: Hopscotches from one condensed scene from the book to another, without ever sweeping one up in the journey or tapping into the mother lode of rich comedy that exists in McCarthy's brilliant dialogue. Read more
Amy Taubin, Village Voice: A choppy ride. Read more
Desson Thomson, Washington Post: These cowboys have to ride, shoot and live between three-dot ellipses. Read more