--- title: "Amores Perros: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/amores-perros/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/amores-perros" critics_score: 85 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Amores Perros (2000): what the critics said Critics' score 85 from 7 reviews: 6 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Amores Perros, praising the force of its direction and the emotional weight of its interlocking stories. The praise clusters around the handheld camerawork, urgent pacing and strong performances, which give the violence and melodrama an immediate, unsettling charge. The reviews repeatedly find tenderness and an understanding of desperation beneath the brutality. Several also draw attention to the dogs as a means of expressing the characters’ circumstances rather than merely provoking shock. Reservations centre on whether the links between the stories justify the film’s ambition. The AV Club admires the raw energy but finds those connections vague and shallow, whereas the Evening Standard praises the editing for revealing thematic links. Slant is positive but finds the storytelling somewhat pat. The spread runs from fervent admiration to qualified approval, with graphic cruelty to dogs a further caution even among favourable reviews. ## Radio Times — Alan Jones Rating 5/5. This absorbing Mexican marvel eschews Tarantino-esque quirkiness to emerge as a startling original, expertly fashioned into a stunning rumination on the traumas and desperation of love and desire. Shot with handheld camera for documentary-style immediacy, it is a uniquely twisted romantic tragedy and exhilarating masterpiece that is suspenseful, shocking, disturbing and ultimately very moving. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-jqrkoy/amores-perros/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 13 April 2001. The film is the work of a born filmmaker who plunges into melodrama, coincidence, sensation and violence with passion. It is rich with character and atmosphere, reminding the critic of Buñuel, Ripstein and Jodorowsky in its comfort with society's scruffy underbelly. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/amores-perros-2001) ## The New York Times — Elvis Mitchell Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 30 March 2001. This is a satisfying, tough-minded episodic film noir that immerses itself in melodrama without shame. González Iñárritu is unashamed to embrace the power of filmmaking and evolves into a grown-up love of narrative; it is rare for a director to enter films with this much verve and emotional understanding. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/30/movies/film-review-life-fast-shocking-for-pulp-fiction-characters-their-dogs-would.html) ## Los Angeles Times — Kevin Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 13 April 2001. A major work that spins a timeless, universal tale of interlocking fate involving love, tragedy and redemption. Every moment seethes with vitality and passion for life even at its harshest; it is fully realized, ablaze with vital portrayals and rich in meaning, though its graphic depiction of cruelty to dogs will prove too intense for some. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-13-ca-50330-story.html) ## Slant Magazine Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 2 May 2001. The review calls it an engrossing, embittered, ironic vision with magazine-chic style and biblical undertones, owing more to Kieślowski than Tarantino. It prefers the less pat Los Olvidados but sees it as the film Kieślowski would have made in Mexico. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/amores-perros/) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 14 May 2000. The critic praises Iñárritu's audacious debut for its raw immediacy, primal emotions, and kinetic energy in weaving three stories around a car crash, while noting its visceral dogfighting scenes. However, the connections between stories are seen as disappointingly vague and shallow, with trite ideas not matching the ambition. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/amores-perros-1798192378) ## Empire — Kim Newman 1 January 2000. The critic calls the film first-rate filmmaking that is horrific and tender, raw and lyrical, and urges viewers to see it. They single out the gripping, intricate storytelling across three linked tales and the effective use of dogs to reflect the characters' desperate situations. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/amores-perros-review/) ## Evening Standard 10 April 2012. The critic hails Amores Perros as a truly great film that restores faith in the power of cinema. They single out the extraordinary momentum of the direction, the confident editing that reveals thematic links on survival, instinct and loss, and the film's resonance despite its violence. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/amores-perros-loves-a-bitch-7433282.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw 18 May 2001. The critic praises the film's high-octane, Pulp Fiction-style storytelling that interweaves three tales around a car crash in Mexico City, highlighting its visceral dogfight scenes and strong performances. They single out the raw, virile direction and the way dogs serve as potent symbols across the stories. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/may/18/1) ## Time Out — TCh 10 September 2012. The film is a hell of a first feature, a feverish Mexico City triptych that slams street-level toughs against glamorous high society and picks over the carnage after a car accident. It recalls Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction but is edgier, fundamentally moral, with the love of animals as a redeeming grace note amid savagery. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/amores-perros) ## Eye for Film — Keith Hennessey Brown Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. The critic calls the film exceptional and possibly the best two-and-a-half hours in the cinema that year. They single out its visceral emotional impact, fluid handheld camerawork, and strong performances, especially compared to more superficial genre exercises. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/amores-perros-film-review-by-keith-hennessey-brown) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/amores-perros.md