The Giver 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: This might be an anti-pharmaceutical, anti-cult, anti-plot, anti-suspense allegory. It could also just be Thanksgiving at your robot-zombie in-laws. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: The central premise - that wildness of spirit isn't something to be tamed, no matter how messy it makes our lives - is an enduring one, and well served by Jeff Bridges in the title role. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: For much of the movie, viewers will be asking themselves where the conflict is. And, by extension, the drama. Read more

Katharine Schwab, Seattle Times: The story's beautiful packaging doesn't make up for the way it has been commercialized. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: "The Giver" reaches the screen in a version that captures the essence of Lowry's affecting allegory but little of its mythic pull - a recipe likely to disappoint fans while leaving others to wonder what all the fuss was about. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: This major influence on today's new class of dystopian YA smashes now looks like just another greedy knockoff on-screen -- a monochromatic Divergent, or something similar. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: This isn't a terrible movie. It just falls flat, in almost every way. It exists and not much else. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A family-friendly dystopian nightmare that won't offend anyone but won't get them very excited, either. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Incredibly, this screen adaptation is rated PG-13, which means that parents, who will probably find it excruciatingly simpleminded, are cautioned to keep it away from their middle school children, the only viewers who might possibly enjoy it. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "The Giver" gives off an air of wearying familiarity, without much in the way of design wiles or cinematic wonder beyond the spectacle of Streep competing for her share of the movie against her own hair. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The movie never really sheds its chilly Orwellian vibe, and its chief idea -- that only The Giver and Jonas can truly feel -- is contradicted by the supposedly blanked-out citizens who, in fact, appear to have feelings indeed, albeit nasty ones. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: As Jonas, Brenton Thwaites brings thoughtful wonder to the role of a young man who is thrilled and frightened by what he learns. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "The Giver" offers more than just the standard clamorous post-apocalyptic claptrap that fuels far too many films these days. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: It's the latest in the long line of movies made from novels set in a dystopian future where a young person has heroism thrust upon their slim shoulders...Yet, taken on its own, it's a well-made and effectively told morality tale. Read more

Jeff Labrecque, Entertainment Weekly: In the end, the film practically collapses under its own...hmm, what's the opposite of 'weight'? Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: An agreeable YA riff on Orwell - via Logan's Run - topped with the kind of magic-transformative baloney that passes for an ending in too many otherwise-fine Hollywood adventures ... Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: The Giver is more simple and raw than the rest of today's teen dystopias that try to cram in unnecessary backstory and love triangles. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: In a too-crowded world of young-adult franchises, mostly it succeeds best at providing only what its villains so fervently desire - unsurprising, unrelenting sameness. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: If the movie hits ominous notes, they've all been heard many times before ... Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: "The Giver" was ahead of its time as a book. But as a movie, it's too late. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The enervating hash of dystopian dread, vague religiosity and commercial advertising-style uplift is nothing if not stale. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Not even Streep and Bridges can lift The Giver beyond the level of a post-apocalyptic after-school special. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Noyce, working from an adaptation by screenwriters Michael Mitnick and Robert B. Weide, finds a compelling through-line ... Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: In the ranks of dystopian YA-targeted motion pictures, this one can stand alongside its peers. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: The magic gets lost in translation. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Lois Lowry took chances with her novel. The movie of The Giver takes none. It's safe, sorry and a crashing bore. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: The truth is that it's dim, perfunctory and wide-eyed, at least in every moment when Bridges isn't on the screen. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "The Giver" takes a tortured individual's dilemma and turns it into societal question: If our emotions make us human, but our emotions keep leading us into catastrophe, how much of our essence are we willing to give up just get some peace? Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Another week, another movie about a special adolescent who saves society from the forces of darkness. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Once you've gotten the lesson at the heart of the film, the rest of The Giver seems almost redundant. It's rather a problem. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It changes some plot points, but more important it lacks the resonance and mythic quality of Lowry's literary allegory. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: A movie that plays like a low-rent Logan's Run crossed with a UNICEF commercial. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: [The Giver is] handsomely directed by Phillip Noyce and [features] an appealing, sure-footed cast of emerging and veteran actors. Read more