Trying to entertain adults and kids, this work falls through the cracks.

| Original Score: C | Jan 10, 2023

A sugared but poignant account...

| Nov 7, 2022

Charles Sturridge's fantasy is too slow and complicated for very young viewers, but others will enjoy its wholesome story and detailed depiction of the World War I era, not to mention the fairyland scenes, which are truly magical.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 28, 2019

It's good, but it ought to be better and it isn't.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 23, 2010

Fairy Tale: A True Story is as light — and centerless — as a marshmallow.

| Mar 26, 2009

It's a respectable tale, but there's too much baggage for the fancy fully to take flight.

| Aug 16, 2007

A film with no discernable point of view that's directed at no definable audience.

| Jul 16, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 7, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 30, 2005

| Original Score: C | Apr 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 27, 2003

Charming special effects and appealing heroines, and truly an ambitious meditation on the nature of fantasy and reality and growing up.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 22, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 10, 2003

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 8, 2003

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 12, 2002

Like the great magician, director Charles Sturridge asks us to consider what is real.

| Mar 24, 2002

An enticing drama about the eternal clash between reason and the magical realm of enchantment.

| Feb 28, 2002

"Fairytale -- A True Story" necessarily creates. It so loves its materials, it so believes in them, that there is no conflict. There's no tension, no involvement. Nothing is really at stake.

| Jan 22, 2002

It's Arthur Rackham vs the Adult/Capitalist/Industrial Revolution - the obsession with exploiting the extraordinary and making it ordinary.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5 | Jun 15, 2001

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000