Cloud Atlas

"An intense three-hour mental workout rewarded with a big emotional payoff."

"A grand folly that makes the Wachowskis' The Matrix trilogy look prosaic, Cloud Atlas is a fascinating if flawed work that will leave you gasping one minute and gagging the next."

"This is by no means the best movie of the year, but it may be the most movie you can get for the price of a single ticket."

"Unfortunately, these bold ambitions come to naught. They confuse the cosmos with the costume department and wind up lost in a world of wigs and bonnets."

"Surely this is one of the most ambitious films ever made."

"What sinks "Cloud Atlas" is not the largeness of its ambitions but the lack of skill it displays in terms of writing, directing and acting."

"Everything gets homogenized into a blandish whole, the impact of each story softened by the constant need to connect the dots."

"It's an adventure into the very concept of storytelling: magical, enthralling and thrilling as much as bewildering, pompous and potty. In other words, up in the clouds."

"It's an imperfect film of great daring and tremendous humanity, a work of many stories, but a singular achievement."