50
A tale as ploddingly familiar as it is good-looking and worth telling.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Sometimes the most compelling real-life stories make better documentaries than dramas. Such would seem to be the case with The Children of Huang Shi.
60
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
Roger Spottiswoode directs with old-fashioned style, avoiding the saccharine with realistic depictions of a war-ravaged China (where he filmed) and a cast well versed in stiff-upper-lip.
40
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Never achieves the David Lean style of epic it aims for - exterior vistas and interior dramas - but it has two charismatic performances, beautiful Chinese locations and an admirable lack of sentimentality.
63
This formulaic adventure pays tribute to George Hogg, a true hero largely forgotten everywhere but China, where a statue of him now stands -- a rare honor for a westerner.
25
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
It's like "Schindler's List" crossed with "The Sound of Music," and Roger Spottiswoode directs it in a stiff, lifeless, utterly dated style of international squareness.
83
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
It radiates intelligence. Of how many historical epics can that be said these days?
50
Giving Jonathan Rhys Meyers the kind of manly yet paternal role Spencer Tracy once mastered, this carefully wrought international production relates the basic story of reporter George Hogg without any vibrancy, emotion or style.
67
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
It's a polished, beautifully shot story, and it acknowledges the messiness of real life. But like real life, it's often baffling and frustrating.
38
Beautiful but boring.