The Natural (1984)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:24
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Though heavy with sentiment, The Natural is an irresistible classic, and a sincere testament to America's national pastime.
Runtime: 2 hrs 24 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Farm boy Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) is the best baseball player anyone has ever seen. His bat, handmade from the wood of a tree felled by lightning following the death of his father, is magic in... [More]
Starring: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger
Director: Barry Levinson
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Reviews for The Natural
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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No popped-up fly doubles. Just wham, bam, home run. Get the picture? Full Review |
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 2/4 |
Robert Redford isn't playing a 1930s baseball hero ... he's playing an instrument of God. Full Review |
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4/5 |
No review available.
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3/4 |
Somewhat overly sentimental, lacking the novel's subtlety, and less interesting when the action leaves the ball park, Barry Levinson's beautifully shot film is nonetheless a charming fairy tale. Full Review |
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The Natural is an impeccably made, but quite strange, fable about success and failure in America. Full Review |
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I've just about had it with directors who use the mythic mode as an alibi for unshaded characterizations, simpleminded plotting, and swells of artificial emotionality. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Jammed full with cliches, The Natural never misses a chance to manipulate the audience Full Review |
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Let yourself go and be rewarded by the sight of a hero running home to victory through clouds of fire. Full Review |
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A- |
A mature and elegiac fantasy done with feeling and sincerity that really captures the mystique of old-time baseball. Full Review |
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3/5 |
No review available.
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2/4 |
The message is: Baseball is purely and simply a matter of divine intervention. At about the 130-minute mark, I got the idea that God's only begotten son was playing right field for the New York team. Full Review |
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5/5 |
The most sentimental movie you needn't be ashamed to love.
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4/5 |
No review available.
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3/5 |
No review available.
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3/5 |
No review available.
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5/5 |
No review available.
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2.5/5 |
Though entertaining in short stretches, The Natural has no recognizable character of its own. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Sappy fun
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3/5 |
The cinematography is lush, the Randy Newman score is so epic that Hollywood uses it for practically every movie trailer that isn't a Chris Tucker comedy or a Shaft remake, and the period detail, and baseball scenes, are top notch. Full Review |
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3/5 |
No review available.
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