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The Water Man

2020

David Oyelowo

Rosario Dawson, Maria Bello, Alfred Molina, David Oyelowo ...

5.1

653

Adventure. Drama A boy sets out on a quest to save his ill mother by searching for a mythic figure said to have magical healing powers.

Premiere: Toronto Film Festival TIFF 2020.

	Author	Review
United States	John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"A smart and wholesome picture with about as little sentimentality as such a tale can have"	POS
United States	Ann Hornaday The Washington Post	"'The Water Man' is a rare treat: A sensitive family film grounded in real life (...) Filmed with an eye for rich production values and spectacular natural vistas (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Peter Travers ABC News	"A deeply felt family adventure, touched by the supernatural (…) It's less about showing off than showing the way toward am empathetic meeting of the minds between parents and children. For family audiences, it is an exhilarating gift"	POS
United States	Jessica Kiang Rolling Stone	"It’s hard to shake the feeling that this is the sort of film that fond parents 'wish' their children would love, as opposed to a film their children actually 'will' love (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Wendy Ide Screendaily	"Oyelowo’s intention is to enable young black children to see themselves represented in the kind of rich adventure fantasy picture which has its roots in 1980s Hollywood"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"A sweet, if flawed, attempt to recapture the spirit of 80s kids adventures (...) it’s mostly a pleasure to sit with an earnest, old-fashioned family film such as this (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Glenn Kenny The New York Times	"The mythos the movie trucks in carries hints of Miyazaki’s 'Princess Mononoke' and the Y.A. novel and film adaptation 'A Monster Calls.' But this picture is a more anodyne vision over all"	NEG
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"Like 'Bridge to Terabithia,' the movie could be even more valuable as a coping tool than as entertainment."	NEU
United States	Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"A tale of two outsiders forming a bond and learning life lessons under extreme circumstances (...) a well-acted, great-looking movie"	POS
United States	Siddhant Adlakha IGN	"The film can’t seem to decide whether it’s horror, a fairytale, neither, or both, and its story of confronting mortality gets lost in the process"	NEG
Canada	Andrew Parker The Gate	"A moving, well performed, and gorgeously shot effort that should entertain viewers of almost any age."	POS
United States	Brian Lowry CNN	"[It] feels a little watered-down even by the standards of its genre (...) The movie's limitations are somewhat belied by its classy trappings"	NEU
United States	Johnny Oleksinski New York Post	"Actor David Oyelowo’s debut as a director is a very nice movie that’s a lot like a bunch of other very nice movies (...) However, unlike its title character, 'The Water Man' won’t endure forever (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU

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