“Donald Crisp and Anne Revere save this treacly family drama from choking on its own sentimentality.”

“…doesn’t simply want to update a movie from 1977. It wants to be a movie from 1977.”

“There is both a fragility and immediacy to the imagery—as if watching it might give you a paper cut.”

“…includes a magical moment that will go down among my favorite scenes from Spielberg’s filmography.”

“It’s fair to say that the best stuff comes directly from E.B. White’s plot and prose.”

“…could care less about catering to a child’s more delicate sensibilities.”

“…inventive, amusing and eventually exhausting.”

“Soot and steam seep into every frame, so that you can almost sense the picture wheezing.”

“The animators skillfully negotiate that delicate space between animalistic naturalism and approachable anthropomorphism.”