Midnight's Children 2012

Rachel Saltz, New York Times: A movie that, if never exactly dull, feels drained of the mythic juice that powers the book, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: It's a vibrant journey, but not a terribly illuminating one. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: Faithfully adapted from Salman Rushdie's award-winning 1981 novel, the movie feels both too packed and too slight, overflowing with vivid details but lacking the structure to support their weight. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: The effort to pack an already overstuffed picaresque epic into a film of more than two hours ends up an indigestible stew. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: There are enough intermittent passages of power and beauty to get you through the slow spots. Read more

Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: The film is ambitious and often sumptuous to watch but not always dramatically satisfying. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: A pretty but staidly linear epic drained of the novel's larkish, metaphorical sweep, and a collection of multi-generational love stories lacking their originally eccentric, fizzy charm. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Mehta has given us something as pale as it is panoramic. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Rushdie's characteristic antic humor animates the family scenes, but the movie gets bogged down in endless plot convolutions and whimsy (the material would have worked better as a TV miniseries). Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The cinematography is memorably vibrant, and the performances are solid, even if they pass by too swiftly. Most of all, of course, the subject matter remains fascinating. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: In its steady great-books way, the film is often truthful and moving. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A film bloated by excess material. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Watchable without ever feeling essential. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Deepa Mehta has crafted an epic, visually pleasing tale weaving politics, colourful splendour, romantic love and magic with her most ambitious film to date ... Read more

Guy Lodge, Time Out: Mehta fudges the political allegory in favour of the story's magical realism, but still can't get her arms around the material - or past Rushdie's own bear-hug. Read more

Eric Hynes, Time Out: Midnight's Children has the paradoxical misfortune of being both too rushed and too wearingly long. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The film is beautifully shot, with vivid production design. But because of the tale's lack of cohesion, it doesn't carry enough emotional heft. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: So lavish and unwieldy is the book, Rushdie's best, that a film of it can't help but feel like a helpless reduction, like a bucket of water passed off as an ocean. Read more