Most critics are warm towards this one, and the praise clusters on Gilliam’s invention: the miniature work, the design, and the dream-world built from a boy’s toys and bedroom. Several admire its willingness to be dark where a children’s adventure would usually be cute, down to its refusal of a comfortable ending. The cameo cast, Cleese, Connery and Richardson among them, is mentioned again and again. The more recent reviews, written around restored transfers, agree that the design holds up and the film has aged well.
The spread is wide, though the dissent is thin. Variety’s original review finds the film an underwhelming hybrid, short on laughs and excitement, and rates Ralph Richardson’s appearance as the Maker the funniest thing in it. The Los Angeles Times sits in the middle: consistently entertaining, but with a rambling story that wanders geographically. Those are the only two with serious reservations; the rest run from solidly positive to unreserved.