Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : New York Daily News
Although the script is a little flat - just because the story is true doesn't mean it should feel so predictable - Nair gives the film tons of energy and joy.

Name : Katie Walsh / Alias : Tribune News Service
An uplifting and emotional story rendered with a lively vibrancy by Nair and her stars

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : TheWrap
This humanistic tale, helmed by a masterful filmmaker, offers a potent - and yes, inspirational - story of triumph against huge odds.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
There's much to cheer about a movie with such a diverse cast of talent both familiar and new, set in a land that all too often is depicted on screen as a place of war and hopelessness.

Name : Brian Tallerico / Alias : RogerEbert.com
The story of Phiona Mutesi is a fascinating one on its own, but what could have just been an extended "30 For 30" feels lived-in, compassionate and truthful.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : Village Voice
Queen of Katwe is a true-life tale transformed into an inspirational fable. That's not novel for the movies, but in this director's hands, the results are mostly enchanting.

Name : Jim Slotek / Alias : Toronto Sun
There are no real villains, save for a few snobby bureaucrats. Emotional buttons are occasionally pushed a little hard. But true to her reputation, Nair delivers something a little better than one expects of the genre.

Name : Adam Graham / Alias : Detroit News
In the movie, Phiona can see eight moves ahead, and "Queen of Katwe" often feels the same: You know what's coming, but it doesn't dilute the feeling of victory.

Name : David Lewis / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
Chess is not the most visual of games, but Nair makes these competitions come alive. She also gets the most out of her mostly nonprofessional African cast, not to mention her two stars, Oyelowo and Nyong'o.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
While it hits predictable beats of uplift, the triumphs are often measured out painfully, and the heroine faces barriers of class, gender, and crippling self-doubt.

Name : Leah Pickett / Alias : Chicago Reader
David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o are reliably superb in the critical supporting roles of Mutesi's chess coach and young mother, respectively.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
The story is true, and the message it delivers-with care and help, the disenfranchised can become role models and inspire others-is unabashedly sentimental, but in a good way.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
Just try to resist the charms of Mira Nair's "Queen of Katwe," a triumph-of-the-human-spirit movie that's ultimately, well, triumphant.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
The film as a whole conveys a strong sense of discovery, and humanity.

Name : Katie Rife / Alias : AV Club
Director Mira Nair has a proven ability to find beauty in the most desperate of circumstances, and Queen Of Katwe is no different.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
Nair's film, her best in a long time, is hardly the first to use a chessboard as a symbol of one life's struggles. It is, however, one of the best.

Name : Scott Tobias / Alias : NPR
What sets Queen of Katwe apart from other inspirational stories of its kind is that Phiona's dreams are a double-edged sword.

Name : Calvin Wilson / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
What redeems "Queen of Katwe" is the performance of Oyelowo, who imbues Katende with an exhilarating blend of humor and humanity.

Name : Sheri Linden / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Hits every note of plucky positivity so squarely on the head that it leaves little room for audience involvement.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Directed by the great Mira Nair, the film hits you like a shot in the heart. Nyong'o and Oyelowo are both extraordinary, giving newcomer Nalwanga a chance to shine as Phiona grows into her own woman.

Name : Tirdad Derakhshani / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Ultimately, Queen of Katwe fosters a belief in the triumph of merit and talent. And that message is definitely applicable - to Western kids.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
[Nair] manages to do justice to these people's lives, and when, at the end, the real-life characters show up on-screen and stand smiling beside their actor counterparts, the screen lights up along with the audience.

Name : Geoff Berkshire / Alias : Variety
Quietly radical in enough ways to make you cheer despite the cliches.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
Predictable and very Disneyfied, but Mutesi's remarkable story carries the day.

Name : A.O. Scott / Alias : New York Times
If there is anyone out there capable of remaining unmoved by this true-life triumph-of-the-underdog sports story, I don't think I want to meet that person.

Name : Sara Stewart / Alias : New York Post
Sometimes, it's enough to walk out of a film with your heart warmed - even if your brain's still craving a little something more.

Name : Matthew Lickona / Alias : San Diego Reader
Director Mira Nair knows just how to deploy her excellent cast, giving weight to the drama of both Mom and coach without ever forgetting her sweet young queen.

Name : Dana Stevens / Alias : Slate
Queen of Katwe's originality comes not in its story but in its setting, explored by Nair with her usual skill at establishing a sense of place.

Name : Eric Kohn / Alias : indieWIRE
By treating its outcome like a foregone conclusion, Queen of Katwe underserves the built-in power of its exultant tale.

Name : Brian Truitt / Alias : USA Today
It deals in a world of pawns rather than punches but Queen of Katwe is just as uplifting and feel-good a sports drama as any Rocky movie.

Name : Joe McGovern / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
Nyong'o's gravitas is undercut by a script teeming with wooden platitudes, special lessons learned, and the overbaked dialogue of a Joan Crawford melodrama.

Name : Cath Clarke / Alias : Time Out
Prepare to have your heartstrings plucked.

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
It's a team effort, and even though we know this playbook by heart, cheers all around.

Name : Stephanie Merry / Alias : Washington Post
Subtlety isn't the strong suit of "Queen of Katwe." But beneath the hackneyed aphorisms, there's a thrilling story worthy of our attention.

Name : Guy Lodge / Alias : Variety
Despite rugged craft and a seaworthy ensemble, Kevin Macdonald's low-key submarine thriller never quite sparks to life.

Name : Trevor Johnston / Alias : Time Out
Old-fashioned storytelling values and zeitgeisty relevance make for a worthy addition to sub-aquatic cinema's nerve-juddering legacy.

Name : Mike D'Angelo / Alias : AV Club
An alleged cautionary tale that revels in bad behavior for nearly two hours before finally offering up a stern "tsk, tsk, tsk."

Name : Michael Rechtshaffen / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Although the performances are uniformly on point and the dialogue is tartly British, the film ultimately fails to earn its riotous stripes.

Name : Peter Debruge / Alias : Variety
Brits might object to such an enraging portrayal, which veers between salacious and cynical, though Scherfig's unique perspective is just one more reason she was such a smart choice to handle this material.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
For a movie about a bunch of debauched Oxford swells, The Riot Club is remarkably lacking in wit.and debauchery, for that matter.

Name : Stephen Holden / Alias : New York Times
I was drained and quivering with fury and disgust.

Name : Cath Clarke / Alias : Time Out
A darkly funny, colossally unflattering send-up of The Bullingdon Club.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
The Riot Club comes with the dubious ambition of instructing us as to the evil ways of spoiled British toffs, as if that were needed.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
Scherfig, who showed such subtlety in "An Education," this time proves embarrassingly vulgar, giving the film the unfortunate aura of an angry leaflet being handed out on a street corner by a wild-eyed protester.

Name : Tomas Hachard / Alias : NPR
It's all quite superficial, but never less than gripping, and is aided by an ending that at least doesn't compromise too much-the movie finishes with a smirk more than a smile.

Name : Inkoo Kang / Alias : Village Voice
Scherfig's stagings of these suspenseful set pieces are masterful, but the rest of the thriller is a fairly predictable manifesto against Britain's de facto oligarchy.

Name : Graham Fuller / Alias : New York Daily News
[An] engaging but malignant look at male privilege run amok.

Name : David Rooney / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
While the dark drama is never dull, its portrait of upper-crust entitlement run amok is seldom surprising either.

Name : Christy Lemire / Alias : RogerEbert.com
The movie as a whole is such an incompetent train wreck, you can't look away, just to see how much worse it can get.

Name : Keith Uhlich / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Wrongheaded, utterly incompetent, and nearly laugh-free .

Name : Jesse Hassenger / Alias : AV Club
A tortured use of another movie's absurd mythology to help make muddled quasi-satirical points, while indulging the apparently fail-safe punchline of saying the word "purge" about once a minute.