Most critics respond warmly to The Red Shoes, with praise concentrated on its Technicolor photography, music, production design and dancing. The central ballet sequence is the clearest point of agreement: the reviews admire how it turns a stage performance into a surreal expression of the ballerina’s inner life. Moira Shearer’s performance draws particular praise, while the conflict between artistic ambition and personal happiness gives the film a seriousness that many find compelling rather than forbidding.
Reservations concern the drama surrounding the dancing, though the spread is largely positive with one marked dissent. Variety finds the opening hour a commonplace backstage melodrama before the ballet transforms it. The New Yorker goes further, admiring Shearer and finding the ballet interesting but judging the whole unstimulating, with excessive length, inflated dialogue about art and unflattering colour. Most critics instead see the visual richness and obsessive emotions as central to the film’s force.