The course of 80 minutes brings us nail-biting drama, a touch of romance (!) and a profound engagement with the cycle of life, all rendered in an exquisite line-drawing style that's elemental in its simplicity.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 30, 2024

The Red Turtle moved me emotionally more than any other film this year. It broke me in every way. It’s the first non-Japanese film from Studio Ghibli, but it has the stunning prowess and evocative imagery we’ve loved from them ...

| Aug 8, 2024

A simple story of survival morphs into a poetic, symbolism-driven tale of the man’s connection with nature and the meaning of life.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 2, 2024

I’ve never been particularly moved by Studio Ghibli films — which Film Twitter would have you think makes me some kind of monster — and The Red Turtle didn’t really change the story.

| Dec 6, 2023

Even at 80 minutes, this feels attenuated, and Laurent Perez Del Mar’s lush score of sentimental cliches isn’t an adequate substitute for dialogue or a strong plot.

| Jan 17, 2023

Ultimately a meditation not only on what it means to be human but, more significantly, what it means to be as one with the natural order of the world.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 17, 2021

A powerful reflection of life, it's extraordinary ordinariness and the beauty that can be found within it all.

| Jul 9, 2021

A work of art worthy of Studio Ghibli, and that is saying something.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 14, 2021

Art house animation, a treat for the eyes as well as the brain.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 28, 2021

If you're a fan of animation, The Red Turtle is still worth checking out as a visual spectacle alone. As it stands, though, this is a decent little film that isn't quite as profound as its creators or their pedigree would have you believe.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 23, 2020

Effortless and simplistic, The Red Turtle is an accomplished debut from Michael Dudok de Wit.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 12, 2020

The story is simple, fable-like in its approach, and should resonate with film buffs anxious for an old-fashioned cinema experience.

| Jun 8, 2020

Dudok de Wit manages to find wonderful drama and humor in the island's smallest details.

| May 1, 2020

The simple but spectacular beauty of 'The Red Turtle', also resides in its spectacular artistic zone, which accentuates the emotions that the film raises. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Aug 5, 2019

Dudok de Wit doesn't just know how to create beautiful images, he knows how to pull them together for tension and heartbreak as well. Sadly the story he's illustrating isn't anything like as inspiring as his animation.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 4, 2019

It's just a gorgeous lovely film.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Feb 22, 2019

Visual splendor without a narrative shell.

| Original Score: C+ | Dec 10, 2018

A beautifully crafted epic from Studio Ghibli that takes a simple story and expands it with superb visuals and unexpected power and grace.

| Original Score: B+ | Nov 3, 2018

At times it felt almost transcendental, what with its focus on being dutiful stewards of nature and finding a way of honoring the life force embedded within every granule and fabric of creation.

| Oct 10, 2018

The finest love letter imaginable to what is quickly becoming an obsolete art.

| Oct 10, 2018