58
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe movie teaches lessons without preaching, and focuses on the magic of relationships rather than that of special effects. This leads to a production as affecting for adults as for children.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineGenuinely charming, this children's fantasy is the perfect antidote to Pokemon mania: Younger kids should be entranced, while their older brothers and sisters may just pick up on its gentle critique of a movie culture in which action figures and tie-in toys are all-important.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLike many of the classic works for children, it is finally about the rough passage to adulthood, and Hal Scardino's ability to convey that change is another reason why even in a year of wonders for children this quiet film still manages to impress.
- 70Time OutTime OutFine enlarged production design and effects, and appealing acting from the little and the large.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovSurprisingly well-done nearly all the way around, this neither plays down to its target audience, nor fumbles the inherent childhood fantasy of the story.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe movie unleashes all sorts of considerations it doesn’t really deal with, and the material edges closer to horror than it probably intends.
- 50VarietyBrian LowryVarietyBrian LowryIndian in the Cupboard is yet another example that Hollywood can make movies in which critics of sex and violence can find nothing to complain about. It’s also a reminder that family values can be, well, kind of boring.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannSan Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannThe Indian in the Cupboard is such a sweet film, and so lacking in the bloodthirstiness and violence that parents dread in children's films, that its mere existence seems worthy of praise. Too bad, then, that it turned out so dull and lifeless.
- 50Baltimore SunStephen HunterBaltimore SunStephen HunterThe movie felt slow and didactic; it lacked the kind of forward thrust that a narrative mechanic such as Spielberg would have engineered.