The New York Times by Nicolas Rapold

It’s both the best children’s animated film this year since “Inside Out” — you might call it “Outside In” — and, unexpectedly, a more stirring depiction of the deadening modern megalopolis than most heal-the-world documentaries.

Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov

Perhaps the best way to sum up Boy and the World is by saying it is what it is and what it is, is absolutely remarkable.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Brad Wheeler

A magical and often bleak parable about societal clashes.

Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan

The make-believe world of Boy and the World is confusing, scary and gorgeous. But then again, so is the real one.

Chicago Sun-Times by Miriam Di Nunzio

The little boy here, a stick-figured, button-headed, wide-eyed tot with a signature red-and-white striped shirt, is one of the most distinctive and adorable animated characters you’ll ever come across, and his introduction to “the world out there” is a moving revelation indeed.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Tirdad Derakhshani

Emotionally engaging and unhampered by dialogue, Boy & the World will appeal to children with its deceptively simple story and its visual splendor.

Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

It’s lovely, child’s-eye fantasia.

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

As with the movie as a whole, the message those scenes deliver is a heady mix of uplifting and devastating.

Entertainment Weekly by Chris Nashawaty

With his crudely drawn stick-figure body and big, round Wiffle-ball head, Cuca is a bundle of jitterbug energy and boundless imagination. Like Riley’s in "Inside Out," his noggin is a wondrous place to spend an hour or two.

Village Voice by Sherilyn Connelly

Tension between the city and the country has been a fertile topic for as long as there've been cities, and Alê Abreu's phantasmagoric The Boy and the World explores the eternal conflict in a familiar yet wholly original way.

Variety by Dennis Harvey

Beyond its sheer, intense variety and ingenuity, Abreu’s animation remains so appealing throughout because it always feels handmade.

RogerEbert.com by Christy Lemire

Boy and the World is dazzlingly colorful and alive, often resembling a more elaborate version of the kind of childlike drawings you probably have stuck to your refrigerator door right now.

New York Post by Sara Stewart

Virtually dialogue-free and animated in a cacophony of playful bright colors and ominous industrial landscapes, Boy & the World plays like a dream segueing into a nightmare.

Los Angeles Times by Charles Solomon

Boy & the World is a brightly colored, often charming film that juxtaposes simple, hand-drawn animation with kaleidoscopic computer-generated patterns.

The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney

Even if the film could be accused of lacking subtlety and overloading on whimsy, it spreads a sobering message in a lucid story that remains visually alive and inventive throughout — its aesthetic keeps constantly shifting yet remains fluid.

Slant Magazine by Carson Lund

One wonders how receptive young audiences should be to a film that puts its storytelling secondary to its message-making.