Metacritic Movie Ratings
Big Miracle Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 75

  out of 100

  Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips

  Big Miracle tells its sort-of-true version of events in a democratic and humane fashion, by way of a rangy, lively group of competing interests who actually do on occasion act like real people.

  Read full review

• 70

  out of 100

  VarietyJustin Chang

  This family-friendly outing captures the story's human snowball effect with a measure of sly, satirical wit, if also an excess of boilerplate subplots and jokey '80s details.

  Read full review

• 70

  out of 100

  The New York TimesRachel Saltz

  Big Miracle gets off to a shaky start, but once revved up, it becomes an involving work-against-the-clock-and-the-odds action movie.

  Read full review

• 70

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen

  It's the affable cast, headed by Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski, that really makes the picture so widely accessible.

  Read full review

• 58

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  Big Miracle is harmless enough, but what's annoying about it is its aura of fake activism. The movie doesn't seem to get that it's exactly when the news media began to devote more time to subjects like whales that it started to turn into news not for activists but for couch potatoes.

  Read full review

• 50

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  It's certainly a worthy saga. But given the abundance of one-dimensional human portrayals, it becomes apparent that a documentary on the subject might have been more powerful.

  Read full review

• 40

  out of 100

  Village VoiceMelissa Anderson

  While rooting for the marine mammals (and wishing for more footage of them - and even of their animatronic incarnations), your heart will also go out to the cast, stuck even more pitiably in syrupy manufactured crises.

  Read full review

See all Big Miracle movie reviews at Metacritic.com