Let Clarkson and Fanning take you to the rabbit hole of seductive enchantment that defines this movie.
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03/06/09
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Phoebe In Wonderland (2009)
59
%
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Reviews Counted:49
Fresh:29
Rotten:20
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Blessed with a good cast, Phoebe's heart is in the right place, but its execution is dicey.
Theatrical Release:Mar 6, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: So much of what constitutes psychological inquiry in cinema is overly simplistic, boiling down the complexity of behavior to clichés. So it’s exceptionally gratifying, when dealing with subjects as... [More]
Starring: Elle Fanning, Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman, Bill Pullman
Director: Daniel Barnz
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Reviews for Phoebe In Wonderland
Top CriticTouching, at times intense drama teaches tolerance, empathy.
03/06/09
Writer-director Daniel Barnz manages to achieve a true and delicate balance for much of Phoebe in Wonderland, his first feature, but ultimately undermines himself with heavy-handed and rather hackneyed whimsy.
03/06/09
Top CriticIt's a rare thing when a labor of love turns out to be worth both the labor and the love.
03/06/09
Top CriticPhoebe in Wonderland introduces us to a smart new talent in Barnz and lets the more established members of its cast work at their top capacity. It's a film about kids graced with a mature aesthetic and rare behavioral wisdom.
03/06/09
The screenplay is unusual in its reliance on children for many of the scenes, and its understanding of the drama in the heart of a troubled 9-year-old.
03/06/09
It leaves you frustrated and annoyed.
03/06/09
Top CriticAn uneven, unfocused amalgamation of ideas and moods that is at times deeply moving nonetheless.
03/06/09
It's that kind of movie, full of therapeutic notions paraded as poetry and scenes that seem to carry explanatory labels.
03/06/09
Top CriticElle Fanning, and her audience, deserve better.
03/06/09
Top CriticThere's no denying the cast (which also includes Bill Pullman and Campbell Scott) is terrific and that first time writer/director Daniel Barnz has stacked the deck for his precious indie flick.
03/06/09
The intentions...are good, and the picture boasts a fine lead performance, but ultimately...it's just a fancy disease-of-the-week movie that comes off confused and overly cute.
03/06/09
...has the advantage of having the marvelous Elle Fanning in its title role. She gives a performance of nuance and intensity...
03/06/09
Abstract portrayals of kids with OCD and Tourette's do not, it turns out, make great entertainment.
03/05/09
... an involving and empathetic drama of mothers and daughters.
03/05/09
Phoebe in Wonderland gradually loses its grip on tone and believability, climaxing with a show-must-go-on moment that's just plain silly. Thankfully, Barnz knows exactly where to end his film: on the face of a girl, and an actress, at the crossroads.
03/05/09
For all its cop-outs, Phoebe still trumps the 'how to be a better person' hoo-hah of so many middlebrow dramas, if only because the problems it depicts are real, not overcooked reactions to trumped-up traumas.
03/05/09
Unfortunately, the film is insultingly soft in its portrayal of neurological disorders, linking the disease to Phoebe’s fanciful conversations with characters from Alice in Wonderland.
03/04/09
An impressive family drama that salutes the power of the imagination and the challenges faced by unconventional children in a world where conformity is rewarded over creativity.
03/04/09
Barnz shows a firm directorial hand, most impressively by keeping the troupe of child actors from becoming cloyingly adorable. But despite a unique and refreshing vision, he fails his film by explaining its mysteries.
03/04/09
Latest News for Phoebe In Wonderland
March 18, 2009:
Elle Fanning excels in character study of mentally-troubled child. 
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February 15, 2009:
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