Total Film 3 stars out of 5 -- "[The role] gives Zellweger something to sink her thesping teeth into....It proves surprisingly touching." 02/01/2007 p.38Entertainment Weekly "As you watch, you're carried along by Zellweger's dotty eccentric glow..." -- Grade: B 01/19/2007 p.55 New York Times "Potter emerges as a plucky heroine for all seasons....MISS POTTER is easy on the eyes..." 01/05/2007 p.E23 Box Office "MISS POTTER is an unabashed Victorian charmer so old-fashioned and earnest that it could have been written by Miss Beatrix herself." 02/01/2007 p.73 Movieline's Hollywood Life "Director Chris Noonan...brings some of Potter's most famous characters to life with a subtle mix of live action and animation." 01/01/2007 p.97-98 Ultimate DVD 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] touching biopic....It offers some interesting insights into Beatrix Potter the woman as well as the writer." 05/01/2007 p.118 ReelViews 8 of 10 Noonan, whose previous film, Babe, reached screens 11 years ago, has produced Miss Potter with an eye toward the family audience, although it's unclear whether children will be interested in anything beyond the few brief scenes featuring low-key animation. Some will liken this to Finding Neverland, although the similarities don't stretch beyond the essential premise of seeking a level of understanding about the author of children's books...The strength of Miss Potter is in many ways the simplicity of its intentions. This is an engaging story, well told...The cinematography is stunning (especially the landscapes of the Lake Country), the acting is solid, and Noonan's direction adds an element of whimsy to the tale. With its lack of pretensions, Miss Potter is that rare breed of cinematic animal: a movie whose entire goal is to entertain and perhaps apply a gentle touch to the heart. - James Berardinelli San Francisco Chronicle 10 of 10 In every way, "Miss Potter" is a very beautiful thing...The actors and filmmakers create a world that's so inviting that it really is hard to leave...The film does justice to a singular imagination, a mind that conjured lovely, benign images that have spoken to people for more than 100 years. It presents both worlds Beatrix Potter inhabited, turn of the century England and the colorful enchantment inside her mind, while specifically showing -- and this is important -- how such an artist, living in two realities at once, navigated through life...Dreamy, exquisitely sensitive and yet oddly focused, it's a beautiful characterization...It's a mark of Zellweger's astuteness that she shows Potter as never more alive and vigorous, never more in her element, than when tending her farm or bounding through the countryside. - Mick LaSalle
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