Do you want to see ‘Morning Light’?

Morning Light (2007)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.8/10
Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 22

Breathtaking scenery aside, Morning Light is geared more for the sailing enthusiasts than for the average viewers.

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 9

Breathtaking scenery aside, Morning Light is geared more for the sailing enthusiasts than for the average viewers.

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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 317

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Movie Info

A group of 15 young sailors prepares to compete in the most revered open-ocean sailing competition in the country, and the director and editor of the 2006 surfing documentary Riding Giants keep their focus on the water in order to capture the adventure of a lifetime. Racing in the Transpac is no easy feat; after enduring six months of grueling training, the daring young crew of the Morning Light will engage in a 2,300-mile endurance against the most experienced sailors in the country. In the

PG, 1 hr. 45 min.

Documentary, Sports & Fitness

Directed By: Mark Monroe , Paul Crowder

Written By: Mark Monroe

In Theaters: Oct 17, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Jun 16, 2009

Box Office:$0.1M

Walt Disney Pictures

Morning Light is a sunny, saltwater-splashed tale of inspiration.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Washington Post

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Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

Top Critic

The documentary is enjoyable, though it could have been edited more tightly.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: USA Today

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Claudia Puig

USA Today

Top Critic

For those who love sailing, Morning Light will confirm their passion and please them right down to their Top-Sider encased toes. For the rest of us, this sailors' tale just smacks of naval gazing.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

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Linda Barnard

Toronto Star

Top Critic

The aristo-brats are required to jump into a swimming pool and tread water for five minutes with their shoes on. Horrible! Still, one of them nearly drowns, proving that he shouldn't be allowed near a body of water larger than a bottle of Poland Spring.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Post

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Kyle Smith

New York Post

Top Critic

These eager young amateurs have the kind of passion nobody could fake.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Daily News

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Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

Top Critic

If the makers were hoping they'd chronicled a metaphor for life's struggle, they probably weren't counting on the struggle being monotony.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

(T)his may be one of those achievements in human endurance that doesn't elicit cheers, but sneers. It's just too picture perfected to be powerful.

July 12, 2009 Full Review Source: PopMatters

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Bill Gibron

PopMatters

A vanity project...[but also] a sincere love letter to sailing, as seen through the eyes of a handful of very lucky youngsters. [Blu-ray]

June 28, 2009 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews

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Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews Source: Groucho Reviews

Edited to induce seizures, Morning Light should appeal to fans of MTV and water sports.

June 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

The film pulls in too many different directions to be a winner.

June 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

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James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Any time...personal history is touched upon, it is quickly shoved under the carpet in favor of yet another sailing montage, complete with compulsory sunset.

March 13, 2009 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia)

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Rhiannon Sawyer

FILMINK (Australia)

Morning Light fails as film or TV. It's essentially a vanity project for sailing enthusiast Roy E. Disney.

November 7, 2008 Comment

David Frese

Kansas City Star

This flat, uninspired sailing documentary from the Walt Disney studios has surprisingly little to say.

October 23, 2008 Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews

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David N. Butterworth

rec.arts.movies.reviews

All good intentions aside, Morning Light is nothing more than a glorified television documentary.

October 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine

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Marco Cerritos

Boxoffice Magazine

The film may interest sailing enthusiasts. For the rest of us, Morning Light is a yawn.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan

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Jean Lowerison

San Diego Metropolitan

It's just so Disney. It could make you very cross.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Jam! Movies

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Liz Braun

Jam! Movies

If you don't speak the jargon of sailing and racing, most of the conversations between teammates mean very little. Impenetrable editing reduces the action to a meaningless blur.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Seattle Times

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Tom Keogh

Seattle Times

It's extremely good at communicating the joy of sailing, of putting its finger on the unique aesthetic appeal it offers its addicts and of making us believe that it is a precious gift that will enhance the future of these young people.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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William Arnold

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The camera can only film the on-deck action from so many angles before it gets repetitive. The musical score is pabulum. Race technology and tactics are barely explored, and you never get a sense of the larger field of competitors.

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Oregonian

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M.E. Russell

Oregonian

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Morning Light

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It's a fine little documentary but it comes off more like a commercial for the race more than anything else. It tells us about the people chosen for the TransPac sailing race and their six month training. But it all goes really fast and then we are in the race and then it's over. There are eleven people on the team

December 22, 2009

Jason Spencer

Super Reviewer

If you've never sailed, you shouldn't watch this movie. If you think this was intended to be a blockbuster... to be judged on sales figures, pretty faces, star names... please stay away; you'd have no reference point nor would you, understandably, have the slightest reason to be interested in its content. If you have

January 1, 2010

Lou Savage