San Francisco Chronicle by Bob Graham

People who see it may feel like dancing out of the theater afterward. Go for it.

Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy

An exquisite, ecstatic film, crude in its characterizations and plotting, yes, but extraordinary in its capacity for elation and its hard-earned sentimentality.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

Bell explodes onscreen in a performance that cuts to the heart without sham tearjerking. Look for Billy to blast off.

Newsweek by David Ansen

This delightful film, with its surprising depth charges of emotion, has the feel of a movie that's going to lodge itself in the public's affections for a long time to come.

Variety by David Rooney

Strikes a delicate balance of comedy and pathos with an uplifting final act that delivers a resoundingly satisfying emotional payoff.

Boston Globe by Jay Carr

Bell is utterly persuasive as the boy literally yearning to leap beyond the oppressively apparent confines of his world.

Chicago Tribune by Mark Caro

A triumph that deserves a broad audience.

USA Today by Susan Wloszczyna

You'd be hard-pressed to find a purer expression of rapture in a film this year than the one that opens Billy Elliot.

Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman

Best of all, Billy (Jamie Bell) is that rarity in a film distributed by Hollywood: a real boy, confused at 11 about almost everything.

New York Daily News by Jami Bernard

It's not just a movie about an underdog who fights the odds, it's about following one's heart -- despite the obstacles.

Film.com by Robert Horton

Director Stephen Daldry gets it right.

Miami Herald by René Rodríguez

Compared to manipulative tearjerkers like "Pay It Forward" or "Men of Honor," Billy Elliot is a model of restraint, one that earns its warmth the hard way -- by making us care about the people who are going through familiar steps.

New York Post by Jonathan Foreman

An uplifting, crowd-pleasing film in the tradition of "The Full Monty" that could easily win Oscar nominations for both its 11-year-old star, Jamie Bell, and first-time director, Stephen Daldry.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

In its determination to overdo sure-fire material, Billy Elliot becomes as impossible to wholeheartedly embrace as it is to completely reject.

Slate by David Edelstein

There's too much miserable reality and not a lot of transcendent dance, and the director, Stephen Daldry, doesn't cover the action from enough angles.