73
Metascore
40 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90TheWrapClaudia PuigTheWrapClaudia PuigThis humanistic tale, helmed by a masterful filmmaker, offers a potent — and yes, inspirational — story of triumph against huge odds.
- 80The GuardianCatherine ShoardThe GuardianCatherine ShoardFor what is, in essence, a by-numbers Disney sports flick, there’s endless freshness and vivacity to Mira Nair’s picture – her best in years.
- 80Time Out LondonCath ClarkeTime Out LondonCath ClarkeIf you’re the person who watches weepies with a cynical curl of the lip, this isn’t the film for you. Everyone else, prepare to have your heartstrings plucked.
- 75RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoIt seems unlikely that Phiona Mutesi ever imagined her life would one day be the subject of a Disney film. But she certainly learned that life is full of surprises. When it comes to movie surprises, Queen of Katwe is a truly pleasant one.
- 75The PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe picture is genuinely entertaining and moving, but the fact it even exists in the first place is something you simply cannot dismiss.
- 70VarietyGeoff BerkshireVarietyGeoff BerkshireThe film’s strongest assets are undoubtedly its actors.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenEven with director Mira Nair’s typically vivid sense of place and the charismatic central performances by David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o and a striking newcomer, the film hits every note of plucky positivity so squarely on the head that it leaves little room for audience involvement.
- 58IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnNo amount of strong performances and good vibes can hide the sense that we’re just watching a paint-by-numbers routine. Nair puts so much effort into galvanizing the movie’s central figures that the slightest hints of conflict register as little more than an inconvenience.
- Nyong’o’s gravitas is undercut by a script teeming with wooden platitudes, special lessons learned, and the overbaked dialogue of a Joan Crawford melodrama.
- 50Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonPerhaps it’s simplistic to say that director Mira Nair has fashioned a good-looking but Disney-fied version of actual events, and yet the studio’s predictably uplifting-at-all-costs blandness slowly but methodically drains the material of its richness.