New York Post by Kyle Smith

56 Up is as good a point as any to get hooked on the magnificent half-century series of documentaries, beginning in 1964 with "7 Up."

New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier

It shows that life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. And how, in case we forget, every age can predict the next.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

It is a mystery, this business of life. I can't think of any under cinematic undertaking that allows us to realize that more deeply.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service by Roger Moore

56 Up feels like the most hopeful film of them all - amusing, entertaining, and touching.

Portland Oregonian by Stan Hall

Every profile is fascinating, but certain ones stand out.

Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

What gives the series its force is not just its universality but also its particularity. These grown-ups may be Everyman, but they are also singular.

Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz

What makes 56 Up, like the “Up” films before it, so remarkable is how it puts these stories together, giving us an ensemble of characters as interesting as any in a scripted drama.

Boston Globe by Ty Burr

The attitude of many “UP” fans hovers between voyeurism and concern, between cherishing these people as distant friends and as extensions of ourselves. They’re canaries in the coal mine of human existence.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

Life rushes by so fast, it flickers today and is gone tomorrow. In 56 Up - the latest installment in Michael Apted's remarkable documentary project that has followed a group of Britons since 1964, starting when they were 7 - entire lifetimes race by with a few edits.

Time Out by David Fear

Apted once wanted to give us "glimpses into Britain's future," per the archival-footage announcer. With this installment, he's delivered an intimate portrait of settling down and finally making peace with one's well-publicized past.

The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson

However crafted their stories may have become, and however reluctantly they participate, their sacrifice will be appreciated by history, and by the next generation of voyeurs as well.

Slant Magazine by Steve Macfarlane

The series is both a testimonial to the vagaries of chance and an endlessly cyclical study into the implications of being studied.

The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore

Self-contained enough for theatrical audiences new to the series, it will play best with those who've come to care for these Brits over time.

Village Voice by Michael Atkinson

By now, grandchildren are ever-present, and stasis has set in. Apted's entire project is awesome in scale but subject to inevitable diminishing returns.

Variety by Ronnie Scheib

Certain moments in the film resemble nothing so much as attending a school reunion, being buttonholed by an old acquaintance and shown snapshots of the grandkids. A complacently conservative acceptance sometimes seems to blanket all of 56 Up, as if maturity entails a serene blessing of the status quo.