Most critics come down in favour of A Perfect World, though the warmth is qualified rather than full-throated. The praise gathers almost entirely around Kevin Costner, whose restrained, introspective playing of the fugitive is admired even by those who dislike the film around him, and around the bond between his character and the boy he takes hostage, which several reviews treat as the film’s real subject. The general verdict is of a sombre, affecting drama that is more thoughtful than its chase-story shape suggests.
The reservations are mostly about pace and structure. Variety finds the police scenes slow the story, and the Los Angeles Times goes further, calling the whole thing sluggish and muddled. Empire blames the script and thin character development. Time Out thinks it lacks the mix of genre and subversion found in Eastwood’s better films, and the Radio Times, otherwise approving, finds the central pairing short on chemistry. The spread is wide, from strong approval to outright disappointment, with the two dissenters agreeing only that Costner deserved a better film.