65
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertCarl Franklin's film is true to the tone and spirit of the book. It is patient and in no hurry. It allows a balanced eye for the people in its hero's family who tug him one way and another.
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe movie is at its best when it’s at its smallest: when Ganalon quietly watches Colon coax a dying young man into vomiting up his “curse,” or when Ganalon is getting laughed out of his classroom because he has a burrito in his lunchbox instead of a sandwich.
- 70VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeOffsetting stiff acting with rich atmosphere, visuals and music, this long-awaited picture hits the novel's key plot points without denying its spiritual soul.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAlthough Bless Me, Ultima can feel a bit overstuffed, it’s an honest and naturalistic kids’ story about growing up Mexican-American.
- 63Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsThe results are pretty, and sometimes beautiful. They're also a tad stiff, and the dialogue and voice-over narration sometimes has the ring of a scrupulously faithful adaptation.
- 63St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSt. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsObviously a labor love, and its very existence in a godforsaken marketplace is a minor miracle.
- 50Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.The film's interest in social themes remains background fodder within a far more generic good-versus-evil narrative.
- 50McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreIt’s an engaging yarn, set in a place, a time and among a people rarely represented on the big screen. But “Ultima” is a poetic novel that becomes prosaic on the screen.
- 50Miami HeraldConnie OgleMiami HeraldConnie OgleThe film isn’t overlong. But it tries to fit so many themes into its brief running time — that it merely touches on most conflicts instead of exploring them in depth or with any delicacy.
- 50San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSan Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubThe film often stumbles in translation, trying to define too many characters in too little time.