It has an interesting premise and seems to be about the dark subject of death and childhood, but then backs out nervously towards cops'n'robbers banality.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 21, 2016

It's an entertaining romp, which for me had weird, engaging echoes with Richard Linklater's Waking Life.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 20, 2016

Frequently beautiful to look at, but the cops-and-robbers angle feels tired.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 18, 2016

Missing is the narrative and emotional cohesiveness that would likely have led to [Phantom Boy] being [more] engaging and memorable.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 29, 2016

Adults should get a kick out of Phantom Boy's sly humour but the story and the action is for the kids.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 29, 2016

Phantom Boy will appeal to children who have the patience and imagination to immerse themselves in the film's wiggly animation.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 29, 2016

The story gets a tad too busy at times, but visually Phantom Boy is delightful, cloaked in the same imagination as director Jean-Loup Felicioli's and Alain Gagnol's previous Oscar-nominated animation, A Cat in Paris.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 28, 2016

There's an appealing quaintness to the storytelling that calls to mind the Tintin books of the artist and writer Herg, especially that series's old-world charm.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 28, 2016

"Phantom Boy" is a quiet, peaceful little animated film, arriving just in time as a salve for a noisy, angry world.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 28, 2016

A modest, engaging film that reminds viewers of the intimate pleasures of drawn animation in an era of CG blockbusters.

| Jul 22, 2016

It's still something distinctive and different in a sea of shiny mirrors, all reflecting the same slick CGI style back at each other.

| Jul 20, 2016

The film can be smothered by the obligations of its plot, but it's still beautiful and original, extremely funny, and sometimes very moving.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 15, 2016

Instead of maintaining an effervescent fizzle, "Phantom Boy" too frequently sputters piffle.

| Jul 14, 2016

Once again the filmmakers bring a design sense and a set of storytelling influences unlike anything happening in feature-length cartoons today.

| Original Score: B | Jul 14, 2016

Phantom Boy may fall at the other end of the spectrum from super-polished DreamWorks and Pixar product, but the directors' impressionistic touch won't seem so alien to fans of Cartoon Network and Nicktoons series.

| Jul 12, 2016

Taking their old-school animated style across the Atlantic, directors Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli offer up a heartwarming New York story with Phantom Boy, their second feature collaboration following the 2010 Oscar-nominated A Cat in Paris.

| Jul 12, 2016

The filmmakers are thankfully willing to render, with unremitting vigor, how grief can batter the human heart.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 12, 2016

The noirish plotline is smart and engaging, but this French film is most powerful for its treatment of the young hero's illness; in one scene he uses his supernatural ability to eavesdrop on his family as they discuss him.

| Mar 24, 2016