I Dreamed of Africa is a rarity: A true story that isn't nearly as interesting as the fictional shows on neighboring screens. Maybe that's because the story behind the story never emerges.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 1, 2022

I Dreamed of Africa boasts the majestic landscapes and wildlife that explain why anyone would be spellbound by the place. But the story is fitfully episodic and the jerky editing doesn't help a bit.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 23, 2014

I Dreamed of Africa fails on so many levels that it's hard to even give it credit for the one area in which it excels.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 23, 2014

It's neither epic enough to fulfill a grand scope, nor intimate enough to be an overpowering emotional experience.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 23, 2014

This film, based on a true story, transcends its handsomeness to present a subtle portrait of a woman's growing consciousness.

| Jul 23, 2014

In the opening segment of I Dreamed Of Africa, Kim Basinger breaks her leg. The rest of the film is so dull, you can almost hear the bone heal.

| Jul 23, 2014

It's very similar in story and theme to Out Of Africa but lacks that film's grandeur and real sense of what makes the heroine love the country.

| Jul 23, 2014

Basinger's performance is exceptional. She brings a raw, unselfconscious drive to the role that holds the film together, even while Hudson keeps it hopscotching across time.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 23, 2014

Given contemporary African issues, the film doesn't ring true or do anything beyond skate over a familiar and all-too melodramatic surface.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 23, 2014

Here's hoping your own dreams of Africa are more interesting -- and better acted -- than this movie.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 23, 2014

Director Hugh Hudson gives us a Kenya that is dusty, bleak and generally unappealing. Rarely has a movie about Africa aroused so few feelings of escapism.

| Jul 23, 2014

This flawed film carries within it a rich and complex performance from Basinger.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 23, 2014

I Dreamed of Africa is, quite simply, one of the worst mainstream movies ever made.

| Jul 23, 2014

Kim Basinger, as Kuki, is attractive and touching, but she's given one unplayable scene after another.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2014

The narration, presumably from Gallmann's book, must lose something in the translation; in Basinger's solemn readings, it sounds like ersatz greeting-card poetry.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 7, 2008

This astonishingly awful film is a study in how a film can go terribly wrong from concept to execution.

| Original Score: 0/4 | Oct 17, 2007

The movie isn't just bad -- it's frustratingly fragmented.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 10, 2007

Ultimately the movie is alluring and respectful -- its sadness may be what saves it from becoming sensationalist or trite.

| Feb 26, 2007

There's some good work from Basinger and solid (but also bland) techs and not too much else.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 9, 2005

A production like this deserves better scriptwriters and a better leading player.

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