Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 22
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 9,416
Bernardo Bertolucci attempts to mix Buddhist spirituality with childhood fantasy in Little Buddha. When Dean Conrad (Chris Isaak), a Seattle architect, comes home from work one day, he finds two robed Buddhist monks sitting in his living room talking with his wife Lisa (Bridget Fonda). Guided by a series of disturbing dreams, the monks have traveled from Nepal to Seattle because they believe that the Conrad's ten-year-old son, Jesse (Alex Wiesendanger) may be the reincarnation of a legendary
PG, 2 hr. 3 min.
May 25, 1994 Wide
Apr 3, 2001
Miramax
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (8)
Bertolucci's celebrated burnt-orange-and-burnished-lemon look remains handsome, and the story itself still commands some interest as a pivot into daunting material.
A crazily mesmerizing pop artifact that ranks alongside Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha in terms of extreme earnestness and quasi-religious entertainment value.
Though uneven, the film is engagingly moving and often humorous.
Little Buddha succeeds precisely because of its guileless innocence.
The modern sequences lack realism or credibility. The ancient sequences play like the equivalent of a devout Bible story.
As beautifully photographed and intelligently-written as the movie is, it has no emotional depth or appeal, and is often as cold and clinical as its gray depiction of Seattle.
Excellent introduction to Buddhism--strongest portions are mythical excerpts of Buddha's life.
Although the search for enlightenment may not have much in the way of high-concept appeal, the film should satisfy adventurous moviegoers as well as the large number of adults already intrigued by eastern religions.
Bertolucci's epic is a disappointment.
Has some captivating qualities about both contemporary American life and Tibetan Buddhism.
A well-realized parable about Siddhartha, the Dalai Lama, reincarnation, and a boy's journey of discovery and death.
Part fairy tale, part travelogue, and part kindergarten lesson in Eastern religion. Not a single part is persuasive or compelling.
Some of the movie's mysteries are more unsuccessfully secular than rapturously eternal, but the doorway opens far enough to offer a few glimpses of nirvana.
Ultimately this fell flat for me. I was more interested in the segements relating Siddhartha's story than in any of the modern day goings on, even if Keanu Reeves seems to mainly be in the film to look pretty (which his delivery of lines suggests).
December 12, 2010Super Reviewer
I watched this film in my religion class for the first time, and it was enough for me. However, I do give it credit for staying biblically correct to the religion!
January 29, 2010Super Reviewer
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