Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain 2001

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Do not be surprised to see Amelie pull a Crouching Tiger and be nominated as both best foreign film and best film. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A blast of pure movie bliss, a hilarious, imaginative and exhilarating love letter to the romantic in all of us. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: See it with eyes opened wide and your heart on your sleeve. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Features an aggressive, in-your-face romanticism that's noticeably lacking in genuine warmth. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: Tautou is gloriously alive in the title role. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: There's real magic in this movie -- and enough energy to power a whole city on a dark and gloomy night. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: I love watching movies that sweep me into a magical, happier place, and leave me with an all's-right -with- the-world contentment. Amelie did just that. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com: Its whimsical, free-ranging nature is often enchanting; the first hour, in particular, is brimming with amiable, sardonic laughs. But there comes a point where you feel like Jeunet is forcing whimsy down your throat with a plunger. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: There is no denying that Amelie is, to paraphrase its title, fabulous. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: The first half of this insistently goofy romantic comedy buzzes with the marauding ingenuity of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, but it overstays its welcome. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Fairly irresistible if you can keep your cynicism in check for a couple of hours. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Treacle this elaborately inventive deserves some kind of blue ribbon. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The result is hip nostalgia, a postmodern fairy tale in which faith is replaced by predestination or simple luck, and the universe proves, against all odds, to be a place of kindness and abiding love. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Amelie contains enough material for a dozen or so charming shorts, but stretched to feature length, the whimsy grows wearisome, and the film delights far less than it seems to desire. Read more

Ronnie Scheib, Chicago Reader: Jeunet has succeeded at drawing us inside his head; the question is, do we want to be there? Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: So terrific it might single-handedly rescue the 'feel-good movie' from the garbage heap of overused and discredited phrases. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: One leaves the theater thinking, as so many Americans of past generations have, 'Ah, there's always Paris.' And there will always be Amelie, too. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: While Amelie the plucky girl beguiles, Amelie the charming movie, already an international success, seduces. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Goes straight past cute and heads directly for sublime. Read more

Manohla Dargis, L.A. Weekly: A frenetic bore that insists on its audience's adoration while making no demands upon their intelligence. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: How far should we trust a plea for benevolence when it feels like a box of tricks? Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Underlying the directorial derring-do is an enduring truth: Love really can conquer all. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: It is a tour de force of a bauble, if such a thing can exist. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's the kind of motion picture that's both intelligent and immensely likable -- just like the main character. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A delicious pastry of a movie. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: It's hard not to fall under the spell of this moonstruck romance. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: It's hard to be charmed, hard to think of a movie as a delightful trifle, when you're so conscious of how hard the filmmakers are working to make it charming. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A movie whose embrace of cinema is so passionate it could be mistaken for an embrace of life. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Jeunet lets the pacing lag a bit in spots, but Amelie's spirit never wanes. Even when her good deeds have negative results, her heart is in the right place. The same can be said for this movie. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: A feel-good flick with artsy ambitions. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The sunniest face and the greatest acclaim belong to Audrey Tautou, who is new to these shores. A delight in the title role, she's like a young Audrey Hepburn, making us laugh and feel empathy without feeling manipulated. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: The film is all the more interesting for remaining an eccentric one-of-a-kind that feels every bit the product of its writer-director's unique sensibility and worldview. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Irresistibly endearing, with a visual verve all its own. Read more

Lisa Nesselson, Variety: Jean-Pierre Jeunet's fresh, funny, exquisitely bittersweet tour de force, about a lass who makes sly incursions into the lives of her neighbors, is ambitious yet intimate. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Initially disarming, this simpering dolly grows increasingly wearisome. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: A delectable French confection... sure to please America's sweet tooth. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: There's so much here, and all of it delightful. Read more