The Da Vinci Code 2006

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: What seems credible on page is ludicrous in action. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: How can a film contain so many clues yet remain utterly clueless? Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: If there's anything to be learned from this dud, it's that when you decide to adapt an explosive property like The Da Vinci Code, playing it safe isn't safe ... Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Even as a visual aid, The Da Vinci Code is a deep-dyed disappointment. Paris by night never looked murkier. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Ultimately, it's a work of fiction that, translated to another medium, seems to have lost its punch. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... a first-rate thriller ... Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ... the more you liked the book, the more likely you are to like the movie. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Is it really necessary to add a whirlwind of CGI planets to Hanks' consideration of a sphere-based puzzle, or cut to crane shots of Greek architecture and writhing, toga-clad women when he name-checks a pagan event? Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: If there's a flavor to describe director Ron Howard's all-too-faithful adaptation, it's vanilla. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: As a film derived from a book, The Da Vinci Code isn't a fiasco on the order of The Bonfire of the Vanities nor is it a triumph a la The Lord of the Rings. Instead, it's an acceptable but uninspired simulacrum. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: ... competent if only occasionally thrilling. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Absent is the pure guilty joy of sequential puzzle-solving; instead of participating in the hunt, we're shoved off to the side as a couple of crashing boors do it for us. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The film lacks the deductive appeal of the book -- the way it compelled you to match wits with the protagonists. Instead, what might have been a cerebral treasure hunt bogs down in a miasma of nonstop exposition. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: In a marketplace rife with guides for idiots, dummies and the rest of us, this movie stands as the novel's priciest CliffsNotes. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Here's the gospel on The Da Vinci Code: It's a total snore. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The film is faithful enough, but it's hard to imagine it making many converts. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: These offerings by Howard and Goldsman are not enough to turn a page-turner into something that survives and transcends a media phenomenon, in the way of such bad novels as The Godfather and Jaws. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The movie doesn't have the pulp excitement that the author's gimmicky storytelling generated. In fact, it often has no excitement at all. Read more

Greg Burk, L.A. Weekly: The problem is the pace, which suffers when demands of explication force Howard to pull his foot off the gas. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The Da Vinci Code is as slavishly faithful to its source as the first two Harry Potter pictures, which explains the film's deadly, stop-and-start pace. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: All of the actors seem to be on overacting pills save for Hanks, who may yet rue the day he ever stepped off that giant piano and into big, self-important blimps like this. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman struggle mightily to cram as much as possible of Dan Brown's labyrinthine thriller into a 2-hour-28-minute running time, resulting in a movie both overstuffed and underwhelming. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Rather than being intriguingly provocative, the whole thing comes off as just a rather clumsy provocation. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: The movie is so nervous about offending anyone that it's hardly any fun. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I won't go so far as to recommend it, and I can't imagine ever wanting to see it again. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Ron Howard doesn't so much solve The Da Vinci Code as preserve it under glass. It's a bloodless best-seller adaptation, competent but uninspiring, rather like the vast bulk of Howard's long filmography. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: One could classify The Da Vinci Code as diverting, but it has sidestepped greatness by a wide margin. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie works; it's involving, intriguing and constantly seems on the edge of startling revelations. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Howard doesn't move the story along as quickly or as smartly as he should. (It's a sad state of affairs when Hanks' character is actually asked to utter the words 'We have to get to the library, fast!') Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The truth is that The Da Vinci Code is a pretty-good-but-who-cares effort, a moderately interesting diversion that will hold audiences in the moment but leave them unmoved and unchanged. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Howard takes a strangely respectful approach to the overheated mysticism of the novel, turning the film into that most boring of genres: the pious blockbuster. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller is punishingly long, dramatically overwrought and fatally short on the thrills we demand from summertime blockbusters. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Like a two-bit philosopher working the wrong side of the stone, Howard has managed to turn gold into lead. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: The Da Vinci Code the movie suffers the sin of being afraid to make the same kind of mischief with its sacred text -- Brown's book -- that the author did with a certain other blockbusting bestseller. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Completing the trail of cryptic clues simply becomes an end in and of itself -- think Sudoku: The Movie -- with little in the way of whimsy, star chemistry or excitement to enliven the dour plod. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: ... a melodramatic, sometimes lifeless film that is missing the suspense of the popular novel. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: An oppressively talky film that isn't exactly dull, but comes as close to it as one could imagine with such provocative material. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: If only it were allowed to be merely a cheesy romp, an Indy Jones movie with more sophisticated stereotypes and far less humor. But apparently this is no mere pop novel-turned-high-hat megaplex product. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The most controversial thriller of the year turns out to be about as exciting as watching your parents play Sudoku. Read more