Globe and Mail August 17, 2018 Seeing Alpha on as big and splashy a screen as possible is advisable, preferably with children who can handle occasional scenes of intense peril.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Austin Chronicle August 16, 2018 Watching these pockets of pure cinema emerge from a "crowd-pleasing" story of a boy and his dog may just be one of the oddest experiences you...
Toronto Star August 16, 2018 Smit-McPhee’s performance is astonishing, and believable in every respect as a boy on the cusp of adulthood who must dig deep to find th...
Times (UK) August 24, 2018 It’s basically The Revenant meets Barbara Woodhouse, with a hefty dollop of schmaltz, full of clichés…and hilariously portentous subtitl...
Irish Times August 24, 2018 Smit-McPhee has to do most of the heavy lifting, and he does so with such magnetism, he puts the aurora borealis sequence to shame.
New York Times August 16, 2018 Mr. Hughes, who for many years cocreated films with his twin brother, Allen, and here makes his solo feature debut, is a sharp and engaged visual s...
Boston Globe August 16, 2018 The stylishly crafted film mostly succeeds in its engaging (and tagline-ready) ambition to chronicle "how mankind discovered man’s best frien...
It is difficult not to be impressed by much of what does arrive on screen.
RogerEbert.com August 17, 2018 There’s a pleasant, old-fashioned feel to Alpha. It plays like one of those Disneynature movies with sharper edges.
The Guardian August 26, 2018 The story is simple: subtitled dialogue, in an unspecified ancient language, is basic; the tale is one of subsistence rather than spiritual insight...
Independent August 22, 2018 The film offers a strange but undeniably vivid blend of brutality and sentimentality.
Empire Magazine August 27, 2018 It’s a family movie but one unafraid to show some very sharp teeth.
Daily Telegraph August 23, 2018 This isn’t the Ice Age that your unkempt ancestors would have etched about in cave paintings, but some kind of iPad edition.
The story is straightforward, directional, a direct but difficult path from danger to safety, punctuated by life-threatening adventures. What could...
film.avclub.com August 15, 2018 This is a summer movie that feels designed to transport a younger audience somewhere, not just drag them along for whatever PG-13 ride ha...
It’s not so much a performance from Smit-Mcphee as a totally credible and unselfconscious demonstration of what it would be like to figh...
Slant Magazine August 15, 2018 It reduces the domestication of wolves to a series of simplistic interactions that don’t exactly convey the difficulties of a wild anima...
Financial Times August 22, 2018 It looks wonderful and spins scenic variants on the kind of suspense set-piece you expect in a wilderness yarn.
Alpha is always generous to its namesake, serious about being a buddy film and respectful of the impact this imagined encounter will have on t...
Worth seeing just to witness how audacious it is.
Rolling Stone August 16, 2018 It’s the coming-of-Ice-Age parable you didn’t know you really needed.
The Guardian August 23, 2018 Comfort food, yes, but more edible than many another burnt offering.
A rugged adventure story for young viewers with strong stomachs.
Chicago Reader August 24, 2018 A work of great imagination but devoid of wasteful excess, grounding his straightforward tale in recognizable human-and animal-behaviors.