--- title: "The Red Turtle: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-red-turtle/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-red-turtle" critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 23 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." --- # The Red Turtle (2016): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 23 reviews: 22 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics warmly endorse The Red Turtle, with praise centred on its spare hand-drawn animation and its ability to tell an emotionally involving story without dialogue. The reviews repeatedly admire the precise lines, light and colour, alongside the attention to nature as both a threat and a source of companionship. Many find that the meditative pacing and simple survival story allow its broader concerns with solitude, family and the cycle of life to emerge without forcing them. Agreement is strong, though enthusiasm ranges from quiet admiration to deep affection, with one sharply negative dissent. Reservations concern the thinness of the narrative, the slow pace’s appeal to younger viewers and occasional sentimentality. The Hollywood Reporter admires the animation but finds the score too sentimental and the story simplistic. The Financial Times goes further, finding little drama and weak character drawing, though it responds more favourably to the sequences at sea. ## Radio Times — Trevor Johnston Rating 5/5. The critic praises this wordless animated feature as having the timeless certainty of an old folk tale, with meditative pacing and exquisite line-drawing. It delivers nail-biting drama, romance and profound engagement with the cycle of life in a one-of-a-kind viewing experience. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-i1d22k/the-red-turtle/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 November 2016. The review calls the dialogue-free film a visually stunning poetic fable concerned with the rhythms of nature and the wonders of ordinary life. It praises the simple yet realistic animation style and how the story enlarges the spirit while delivering dramatic events. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-red-turtle-review-20161114-story.html) ## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 January 2017. The review commends the film's pointed simplicity, transcendental refinement, and pared-down animation that evokes a dreamlike state and empathy with nature. It singles out the poignant transformation and poetic ending for their existential fairy-tale resonance. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-red-turtle/) ## The AV Club — Noel Murray Rating A-. 16 November 2016. The review highlights the film's artful European visual style and gripping primal survival tale as a collaboration with Studio Ghibli. It notes that its elliptical and magical-realist elements may feel overly fanciful to some but ultimately deliver aesthetic beauty and emotional depth. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/it-s-man-vs-allegorical-reptile-in-studio-ghibli-s-stu-1798189512) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 May 2017. The critic calls the wordless animated fable a masterpiece of rapturous minimalism, praising its sublime simplicity, ecological themes and universal cycle of life, death and rebirth expressed through crisp visual storytelling and a haunting score. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/28/the-red-turtle-review-studio-ghibli-masterpiece) ## Variety — Peter Debruge Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2016. Festival review. The critic describes the wordless film as a hypnotizing, pure fable that feels timeless, emerging from a unique Studio Ghibli collaboration. It highlights the simple story of a man obstructed by the red turtle and the intuitive, calm Eastern sensibility in its environmental focus. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/the-red-turtle-review-studio-ghibli-la-tortue-rouge-1201777707/) ## Empire — Dan Jolin Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 21 May 2017. The critic praises this dialogue-free Studio Ghibli co-production as a lush visual symphony that celebrates nature as both deadly force and source of love. It stands out as a soothing, arthouse reminder of animation's potential beyond mainstream fare. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/red-turtle-review/) ## Sight and Sound — Kate Stables Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 2017. The critic calls the film a delicate, elegant and profound desert-island fable about man's relationship to nature. She praises its spare, graceful storytelling and visual restraint as a thoughtful anomaly among contemporary animations. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-red-turtle-dream-desert-island-movie) ## Evening Standard — Charlotte O'Sullivan Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 17 November 2017. The reviewer highlights the ravishing hand-drawn visuals and sound design in this hypnotic co-production, calling it perfectly lovely for those with a taste for the strange. It evokes a childlike mindset blending solid realism with fantastical elements and features one of the best endings. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-red-turtle-film-review-a-magical-world-of-beauty-and-staggering-oddness-a3681086.html) ## Little White Lies — Anton Bitel Rating 4/4/4. 26 May 2017. The critic finds it a languorously paced, elegantly animated fable of life's cyclicality that belongs on any desert-island films list. An ecological thread runs through this delightful parable of survival and transformation. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-red-turtle) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2016. Festival review. The critic finds the dialogue-free animated fable thoughtfully and ultimately moving, with unpretentious poetry that expands the director's short-film verve to feature length. Creative sound design, a thoughtful score and exquisite depiction of light and colour round out an unconventional visual and emotional experience. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-red-turtle-cannes-review/5104134.article) ## The Telegraph — Robbie Collin Rating 4/5. 25 May 2017. The critic describes the wordless co-production as a mesmerising debut feature that blooms from a survival tale into a mysterious, meditative exploration of ambition, acceptance and companionship, with a recognisable Ghibli flavour. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/05/18/the-red-turtle-review-studio-ghiblis-wordless-survival-tale-asks/) ## The Times Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 2017. The critic finds the dialogue-free Oscar-nominated love story strange, sparingly supernatural and gently beguiling, with Ghibli-style mystery and melancholy, subtle yet stirring in its exploration of companionship versus escape. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/film-review-the-red-turtle-pl99x0rgh) ## Time Out — Joshua Rothkopf Rating 4/5. 22 May 2017. The critic describes a gorgeous animated movie that begins as desert-island survival and evolves into something deeper, sharing Studio Ghibli's holistic belief in a wider natural world. It casts a magical spell with its elegantly spare, dialogue-free approach and luscious hues. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-red-turtle) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Jordan Mintzer Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2016. Festival review. The review praises the film's minimalist fable of man bonding with nature and its exquisite hand-drawn animation influenced by Studio Ghibli. It notes the simplistic narrative may appeal most to young viewers and finds the score overly sentimental. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/red-turtle-la-tortue-rouge-888117/) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2017. The critic finds the film a gentle, analog-style animated fable about a castaway whose life on an island is shaped by encounters with nature and the red turtle. It stands out for its spare, lyrical draftsmanship and wordless storytelling that evokes quiet magic rather than spectacle. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/movies/the-red-turtle-review.html) ## Financial Times — Nigel Andrews Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 1 June 2017. The critic finds the animated desert island fable underpowered and wan, lacking drama and with tamely drawn images and stick-figure characters, though it finds some mojo at sea. [Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/72a93d46-46b8-11e7-8d27-59b4dd6296b8) ## The Skinny — Philip Concannon Rating ★★★★★. 19 May 2017. Praises it as a masterclass in visual storytelling with beautiful hand-drawn animation and a transcendent quality about the cycle of life. It feels timeless and suggests a bright future for Studio Ghibli. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-red-turtle) ## The Playlist — Andrew Crump Rating A-. 19 January 2017. The critic calls it poetry made cinema and an exquisite existential allegory. They single out its layered emotion and meditative beauty despite a straightforward plot. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/animated-red-turtle-poetry-made-cinema-exquisite-existential-allegory-review-20170119/) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 24 September 2017. The critic praises the simple tale told through deceptively simple yet breathtaking art. They single out the evocative animation and the way it captures the moods of the sea. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-red-turtle-2016-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## HeyUGuys — Stefan Pape Rating 4/5. 5 October 2016. Festival review. The critic finds it an enchanting, serene feature making for an ineffably moving experience. They single out the breathtaking animation style and stirring score for praise, while noting the minimalism might bore younger viewers. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-red-turtle-review/) ## Den of Geek — Ed Williamson Rating 4 out of 5. 26 May 2017. The critic praises the wordless storytelling that conveys themes of solitude, family, and man’s relationship with nature through nuanced details like the expressive crabs and the man’s futile efforts. The film is described as lovely and meditative. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-red-turtle-review/) ## Paste — Dom Sinacola Rating 7.9. 24 January 2017. The film is praised as a landmark of pure, essential animated cinema for its wordless beauty and craftsmanship, though it struggles to convey a salient narrative message. The critic singles out the painstakingly gorgeous hand-drawn animation aesthetic, achieved even with some CG elements, as a highlight worth preserving. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-red-turtle/the-red-turtle) --- © 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/the-red-turtle.md