The care and affection with which Mainwood and his collaborators (notably animation director Peter Dodd and art director Robin Shaw) adapt already endearing material carries the day.

| Dec 18, 2017

Their unassuming story speaks volumes about the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.

| Dec 14, 2017

Butter a crumpet and snuggle down with this affectionate animation about illustrator Raymond Briggs's parents.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 7, 2017

If you're a fan of Spirited Away's Chihiro, you will be enchanted by gentle Ethel.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 7, 2017

... a deeply affecting feature-length animated film...

| Dec 7, 2017

Suggesting a matchup between Archie Bunker and Gracie Allen, Ethel & Ernest is a sweet British memoir/cartoon about an ordinary couple who survive the Blitz along with their growing son.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 15, 2017

At times the movie threatens to melt into a pool of bulldog nostalgia, but it's rescued by a wealth of authentic social detail, especially as the young couple keep a stiff upper lip during World War II.

| Mar 16, 2017

The animation style is appealing and unthreatening, but the film lacks the beguiling magic of The Snowman or the thematic potency of When the Wind Blows.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 30, 2016

Ethel & Ernest is the kind of contemplative grown-up animation that the Japanese have been making for decades but the British have never fully embraced. That's our loss because the format can make for deceptively powerful filmmaking.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 27, 2016

Something about the familiarity of these voices, and their inescapable Mike Leigh-ishness in this setting, turns out to be exactly what the roles need.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 27, 2016

It's an engaging film, but it leaves you with a feeling that there might be a deeper, darker, more specific story yet to be told.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 27, 2016

This is a wonderfully evocative and well observed animated feature that plays like a cartoon equivalent of Noel Coward's This Happy Breed.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 27, 2016

If the first 15 minutes of Up were set in London, animated by Raymond Briggs and stretched into a feature-length film, it might look a bit like this.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 27, 2016