Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
The whole contrivance falls flat in the end.

Name : Linda Barnard / Alias : Toronto Star
A tad too slapstick and not nearly modern enough in its social sensibilities to offer a truly updated version of Madame Bovary, Gemma Bovery still has its charms .

Name : Mark Jenkins / Alias : NPR
Christophe Beaucarne shoots the countryside, the baked goods, Gemma and Martin's playful dogs, and of course Arterton with sun-dappled rapture. No 19th-century novelist saw the world like this.

Name : Nathalie Atkinson / Alias : Globe and Mail
A transmogrified Flaubert, recast, upturned and rich with observational and satirical contemporary details.

Name : Sheri Linden / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Fans of "Madame Bovary" might enjoy the chance to nod knowingly at references to the novel, but that's not enough to sustain a feature .

Name : Stephanie Merry / Alias : Washington Post
How is it possible that such blatant male wish fulfillment came from a female director and a graphic novel by a woman, writer-artist Posy Simmonds?

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
Literary obsession proves to be a weak spine for this wry French drama.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Underscores the notion that what we're watching isn't merely the life of a complicated woman, but rather the actions and choices of that woman as seen through a man's eyes and a man's judgment.

Name : Jesse Hassenger / Alias : AV Club
Arterton proves again that she has starrier magnetism in movies that slow down enough to appreciate it, even if she winds up as much a symbol as her own person.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
After a while, the film feels more like a cute conceit that hasn't really been developed further. It's intriguing, and very well-acted, but empty.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
Like Chabrol, Fontaine has a way of making you laugh, on an off, for 90 minutes, before leaving you feeling a little queasy from too much truth.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
A somewhat reserved but sensual and gratifying movie that finds and polishes connections between literature and the screen while further catapulting the wonderful British actress Gemma Arterton several notches up the ladder toward international stardom.

Name : Anthony Lane / Alias : New Yorker
We are offered a handful of sketchy observations on the extent to which art either does or does not mimic life. These are, at best, unchallenging, and would have drawn barks of laughter from the derisive Flaubert.

Name : Alan Scherstuhl / Alias : Village Voice
Anne Fontaine's Flaubert-inspired meta-pleasure Gemma Bovery takes as its subject the act of watching the lives around us - and of wishing those lives were literature.

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
This is the first Fontaine movie I've seen that qualifies as lightweight.

Name : Stephen Holden / Alias : New York Times
Think of "Gemma Bovery" as an airy puff pastry, dripping with honey.

Name : Jay Weissberg / Alias : Variety
The script flattens the main characters and makes one nostalgic for Flaubert's observational acumen.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
The scenery's lovely and the bread-kneading surprisingly erotic.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
Laden with witty ironies, the film by Anne Fontaine suggests men may not play exactly the roles they think they do in women's lives.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
A nice little gem for anyone intrigued by the concept of having fun with a giant of 19th century literature.

Name : Jordan Mintzer / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
As pure entertainment it certainly does the job, although much of the text's existential weight is lost in the process.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
The novel, of course, is one of the towering achievements in literature, and this trivial movie has no idea what to do with it.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
As a visual (and auditory) experience, When Marnie Was There offers so many other pleasures that audiences may well overlook the story issues. After all, even second-tier Studio Ghibli releases rank among world cinema's finest animated films.

Name : Ella Taylor / Alias : NPR
Even without its moving parable of emotional repair, When Marnie Was There has all of Ghibli's exquisitely hand-drawn sense of place .

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
The Ghibli studio is in transition, but "Marnie," despite some gentle moments of reflection, is a ghost shadow of its previous masterworks.

Name : Brad Wheeler / Alias : Globe and Mail
The artwork is simple and elegant; Anna's fragility and self-loathing is portrayed clearly.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
When Marnie Was There may start off a bit awkwardly, but it'll have you bathing in your own tears by the time it's over.

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
Yonebayashi made his feature directing debut with The Secret World of Arrietty, adapted from the British children's book The Borrowers, and this emotionally resonant second feature takes its story from another such title.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
This is a film defined by patience and attention, an adventure of emotional exploration.

Name : Walter V. Addiego / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
If you feel any kinship with the disaffected, "When Marnie Was There" has much to tell you.

Name : Sara Stewart / Alias : New York Post
Subtle, sometimes really sad and honest about the struggles of adolescence, "Marnie" is a worthy last entry from Ghibli before the studio reportedly goes on hiatus.

Name : Molly Eichel / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
While not a masterpiece, it is beautiful, nonetheless.

Name : Kerry Lengel / Alias : Arizona Republic
To those film lovers attuned to quiet moments and emotional nuance, this film has a shine all its own. The old-school hand-drawn animation celebrates sweeping landscapes and but also the telling detail, revealing character through spare gestures.

Name : Jeannette Catsoulis / Alias : New York Times
Beneath its calm, exquisitely detailed surface, "When Marnie Was There" bubbles with half-formed ideas and undeveloped themes.

Name : Sherilyn Connelly / Alias : Village Voice
With the retirement of producer Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli has put production on hold; When Marnie Was There may well be its last feature film. If so, it's a strong note to leave on.

Name : Michael O'Sullivan / Alias : Washington Post
It's a kid's movie that grown-ups will like. As Marnie does on Anna, the movie casts a spell.

Name : David Ehrlich / Alias : Time Out
Wistful and stirringly humane, When Marnie Was There isn't one of Ghibli's greatest films, but it's emblematic of their collective greatness. In a way, that's the most perfect thing it could be.

Name : Kenneth Turan / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Though its curious narrative arc means you're never sure exactly where it's going, the film works up a considerable emotional charge by the end.

Name : Boyd van Hoeij / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
A beautifully animated tale.

Name : Linda Barnard / Alias : Toronto Star
Showcasing the gorgeous hand-drawn work that is a hallmark of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli, When Marnie Was There tells a story of youthful friendship tinged with melancholy and magic.

Name : Peter Debruge / Alias : Variety
Yet another splendid escape from the increasingly strenuous glut of computer-animated offerings, this one designed to serve as family entertainment after the more adult-skewing likes of "The Wind Rises" and "The Tale of Princess Kaguya".

Name : Jesse Hassenger / Alias : AV Club
As a children's movie, it's uncommonly sensitive and complicated, rooted in relationships rather than dazzling action. But adults may notice its simple poetry turning, after a while, to suds.

Name : Peter Keough / Alias : Boston Globe
Yonebayashi has touched on the greater mystery underlying everyday life, a world pulsing with wonder and possibility, edged with a shadow of melancholy.

Name : Andrew O'Hehir / Alias : Salon.com
There are moments of hushed magic here, of moonlit, seaside and tree-shadowed visual poetry, that rival anything Ghibli has ever created.