[Forster] and screenwriter Mark Bomback marry the handsome production to directorial and script choices that, for all their attempted restraint, lean toward the obvious, the blatant, and the sentimental.

| Oct 4, 2024

With elegant acting from its two young leads and picturesque cinematography from Matthias Koenigswieser, it serves as a competently executed morality play for audiences craving a bit of unambiguous humanism.

| Original Score: B | Oct 4, 2024

Forster’s steady direction keeps this thread of White Bird affecting even when it conforms to predictable narrative beats.

| Oct 4, 2024

One could argue that Forster and company calibrate their anodyne effects to make a Holocaust narrative that’s palatable for younger viewers. But what mostly resonates is a particularly lachrymose brand of show-business hedging.

| Oct 3, 2024

Mr. Forster’s affinity for flat dialogue, cartoonish characters, hokey contrivance and dull inspirational messages continue to be his hallmark, and the Hallmark Channel seems like an ideal place for his future work.

| Oct 3, 2024

You can appreciate the artistry and the fine acting and the timeless messaging in the beautifully filmed coming-of-age drama White Bird without having seen Wonder, but the connection between these two very different films is quite unusual and absorbing...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 3, 2024

If only director Marc Forster’s maudlin attempt at wrangling one of the most devastating chapters of the last century into a teachable moment for tween audiences were left to operate on its own whimsical terms. It would have at least been bearable.

| Oct 3, 2024

It’s a little by-the-book -- exactly, perhaps, what you might expect from elevated historical fiction aimed at young adults. Being a good-hearted, straightforward film that might even have you shedding a few tears is no crime against cinema.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 3, 2024

Forster presents a somewhat sanitized, though clear-eyed view of the Holocaust that is sobering but digestible for younger audiences.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 2, 2024

Though one can quibble over some of the more simplistic story elements here, the director’s astute craftsmanship delivers a handsome result that hits the desired poignant and inspirational notes without belaboring them.

| Aug 4, 2023