Metacritic Movie Ratings
Cloud Atlas Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  It fascinates in the moment. It's getting from one moment to the next that is tricky. Surely this is one of the most ambitious films ever made.

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• 83

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  Cloud Atlas is certainly out to be a ''visionary'' mindbender, but the film's secret is that it's a nimbly entertaining and light-on-its-feet Hollywood contraption, with the actors cast in multiple roles as if playing a game of dress-up.

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• 80

  out of 100

  Variety

  As inventive narratives go, there's outside the box, and then there's pioneering another dimension entirely, and this massive, independently financed collaboration among Tom Tykwer and Wachowski siblings Lana and Andy courageously attempts the latter.

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• 63

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  The cinematography is gorgeous and the makeup amazing, but the story lines are too disconnected.

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• 60

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  This is by no means the best movie of the year, but it may be the most movie you can get for the price of a single ticket.

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• 50

  out of 100

  TimeRichard Corliss

  Most viewers are likely to be impressed more by the magnitude of the effort than the magnificence of the effect. Cloud Atlas is a Terry Gilliam movie without the kinks, a Wong Kar-wai film without the smoky dreamscape, a time-and-Space Oddity that remains frustratingly earthbound. Put it another way: this is no "Speed Racer."

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• 50

  out of 100

  The Hollywood Reporter

  Not quite soaring into the heavens, but not exactly crash-landing either, Cloud Atlas is an impressively mounted, emotionally stilted adaptation of British author David Mitchell's bestselling novel.

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• 50

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern

  This would-be epic is beautifully photographed, elegantly crafted and adventurously cast. Unfortunately, though, it plays like a gargantuan trailer for a movie still to be made.

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• 40

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan

  Unfortunately, attempts to be original are not enough, they have to succeed, and this film's solutions tend to present themselves as alternately gimmicky and banal.

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See all Cloud Atlas movie reviews at Metacritic.com