Walt & El Grupo 2008

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: A relentlessly upbeat vanity project destined for the Disney family archive. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: This Disney-sanctioned documentary on Papa Walt and company's 1941 visit to South America is a dull, dry bit of mythmaking. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: [Thomas] may need more distance from the subject -- Walt & El Grupo could shed about 20 minutes -- but there's no questioning his sincerity or his instinct for revealing anecdotes. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Hardcore Disney fans will appreciate how serious-minded and intimate this movie is, but for others, Walt & El Grupo might feel like an expensive vacation slide show, assembled by strangers. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Walt & El Grupo is the best kind of labor of love. A documentary made with affection and intelligence... Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: This may be the first documentary that contains not a single American, living or dead, who is anything but merry of disposition. That cheer carries over to the on-the-spot gusto of el grupo's sketchbooks -- a more accurate tribute than the final cartoons. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: At a time when Hollywood doesn't remember last year, is obsessed with the bottom line and is run by men who often have no sense of history, Walt & El Grupo evokes a better time. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The production values are first rate. But you will wait in vain to hear a good reason for this movie's existence. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: While skimming over the troubled waters of impending war and ongoing labor unrest, it's both a vicarious vacation and a crash course in animation. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While Walt & El Grupo could use trimming, it also is visually stunning. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Read more

Ernest Hardy, Village Voice: Walt is both humorous and moderately revealing about the backstage machinations of the Disney machine. Read more