| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Oh, yes. I loved the music, but it's almost impossible to go wrong with Bach and Schumann.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 22, 2007

It's a simple, gentle tale that pulls its audience in almost imperceptibly; by its end, you just might be blinking away unexpected tears.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 3, 2007

There are some likable elements to this unusual, erratic, ultimately frustrating film.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 27, 2007

The more sentimentally inclined in the audience may even feel like applauding.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 27, 2007

[A] celebratory, family-friendly fable.

| Jul 27, 2007

Vitus freaks you out, but its makers seem to have no idea that it does.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 27, 2007

While the metaphor here may be too literal for some tastes, Murer shows how our families also give us the wings to fly.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 26, 2007

The cast is superb, especially the young actors who portray Vitus; [Teo] Gheorghiu is a real-life piano prodigy, lending an extra frisson to the intoxicating music that plays throughout the film.

| Jul 26, 2007

Gheorghiu's bad-seed severity has a creepy undercurrent.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 21, 2007

Directed with a conspicuous lack of inspiration.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 13, 2007

We're supposed to be convinced that [Vitus has] proved himself a normal kid in spite of his virtuoso skills, not because of them. It's a bit of a stretch, but he's got the long fingers for it.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 13, 2007

Director Fredi Murer strains too hard for it to be something more, a magical opus about childhood and taking flight, in this instance literally and figuratively. You wind up feeling manipulated instead of emotionally moved.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 13, 2007

Vitus's cool intelligence, knotty narrative and precise performances make it a pleasure to watch even when it sends mixed messages about the true nature of its protagonist.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 13, 2007

Vitus, a fizzy domestic fairy tale from Switzerland, gives you a lift, as it revels in the oddball joy of genius as kid power.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 11, 2007

It is, without question, a masterful picture, a truly heartwarming winner that's about as pure and as fantastic as even the most timeless fairy tale.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 5, 2007

Murer is a skillful director and has crafted a crowd-pleasing story that will have particular appeal to mature 'tweeners.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 5, 2007

This was Switzerland's entry for the 2006 Oscars, and you can see why. Like most award-seeking crowd-pleasers, it places uncomfortable impulses in opposition then dramatizes them in the most unchallenging way imaginable.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 4, 2007

If writer-director Fredi Murer had sparked a more rebellious spirit within the project, he might have made a truly memorable fantasy for both children and adults.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 29, 2007