Synopsis
A 10-year-old child prodigy cartographer secretly leaves his family's ranch in Montana where he lives with his cowboy father and scientist mother and travels across the country on board a freight train to receive an award at the Smithsonian Institute.
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Cast
- Kyle CatlettT.S. Spivet
- Helena Bonham CarterDr. Clair
- Judy DavisG.H. Jibsen
- Callum Keith RennieFather
- Niamh WilsonGracie
- Jakob DaviesLayton
- Rick MercerRoy
- Robert MailletGiant Hobo
- Dominique PinonTwo Clouds
- Julian RichingsRicky
Recommendations
- 80
Variety
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet is the perfect 3D vehicle and Jeunet takes full advantage, offering a feast of amusing visual flourishes suited to the book’s playfulness. - 80
CineVue
T.S. Spivet is a dreamlike fairytale, which swims in the romanticism of childhood and the decay of the American Dream. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
The film's greatest achievement is in the way the accomplished 3D treatment -- this is Jeunet’s first foray into the format -- emerges entirely naturally, as the precise expression of a gifted child’s vivid imagination. - 67
The A.V. Club
While it doesn’t operate at its full potential, Spivet nonetheless offers a bracing risk: a kid adventure with danger alongside its whimsy and sadness alongside its reassurances. - 63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Jeunet’s major achievement is to capture the book’s complicated museum clutter and hothouse-flower sensitivity. - 60
Empire
For all it boasts in ingenious style, this genial American yarn lacks the delicious bile of Jenuet’s early days. - 60
Total Film
With more whimsy than a Wes Anderson wedding – and a clunky third act that potholes the plot – Jeunet’s American comeback is beautiful, heart-warming and a bit of a mess. - 42
The Playlist
Jeunet occasionally reminds you why he was once considered one of the most exciting names in world cinema. But for the most part, it’s another visually interesting, somewhat hollow misfire.
