Despite its faltering touch with the story's darker, more melodramatic threads, Her Majesty nonetheless proves winning overall thanks to a predominant emphasis on nostalgia, whimsy (heroine's royal audience fantasies include one full-on production number) and droll-to-broad humor.
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Her Majesty is the kind of movie where you start out smiling, and then smile more broadly, and then really smile, and then realize with a sinking heart that the filmmakers are losing it.
50
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
To earnest for its own good. Sincere and heartfelt, it's the kind of family film that might be at home on cable.
40
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It's as if Gordon feared his film's none-too-subtle suggestion that kids should ask questions and decided to provide answers instead, tying up his story with a phony happy ending.
38
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Unimaginative, exasperating film, hopefully but fruitlessly recycled after the success of 2002's ebullient Whale Rider.
38
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Against "Whale Rider's" well-acted, intimate story, Gordon's film feels like an endless spiral of sub-par soap-opera acting, mired in trite, predictable dialogue.