MamaMovie Reviews

So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 57 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 Iffy for 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Mama is skillfully made, and although Chastain is the best thing in it, she's not the only thing in it. Read full review

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    An effectively spooky ghost story with Guillermo del Toro's imprimatur (he's executive producer), Mama is every adoptive parent's nightmare: What if the children you bring home start eating moths and toilet paper, and won't come out from under the bed? And when they do, it's only to do something hurtful? Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly |

    Nothing in the movie is quite original, yet Muschietti, expanding his original short, knows how to stage a rip-off with frightening verve. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times |

    Movies like Mama are thrill rides. We go to be scared and then laugh, scared and then laugh, scared and then shocked. Of course, there's almost always a little plot left over for a sequel. It's a ride I'd take again. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Todd McCarthy

    Mama represents a throwback and a modest delight for people who like a good scare but prefer not to be terrorized or grossed out. Read full review

  • 63
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Chastain digs deep, going beyond the call of scream-queen duty to find the passion that gives horror a pulse. Read full review

  • 60
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    Mama itself is above average as a piece of filmmaking, even if its scare quotient is middling or below. That's OK with me. I was content to be impressed by the skill of the first-time director, Andrés Muschietti; absorbed by the performances and smitten by some startling images. Read full review

  • 58
    NPR | Ian Buckwalter

    What more often sinks Mama is, well, Mama herself. Much like another recent homage to a spookier era of horror, 2011's "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" - which, like Mama, was executive-produced by Guillermo del Toro - Muschietti's film shows its monster too early and too often. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Tom Russo

    The frustration, though, is how much the movie leans on made-ya-jump scares and contrived plot devices when its quieter chills and already fraught setups are so potent. Read full review

  • 40
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    If you're going to have a ghost in your movie, it might be a good thing to present a viable alternative to that ghost. Mama, however, presents a battle between two not very good options before crumbling like a sheet on a string. Read full review

View more reviews for Mama on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Uneven movie has very scary scenes, some involving children.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Mama is a horror movie starring Jessica Chastain and produced by Guillermo Del Toro. It's very light on blood and gore, but there are lots of powerfully scary, spooky images, as well as scenes of young children in danger. Language is light (with one use of "f--k" and about three uses of "s--t"), and there's one brief scene of adult kissing and sensuality. Mama is a bit more ambitious than other horror films, and many horror-crazy teens will be able and eager to see it. But some of the movie's themes around motherhood and caring for children are a better fit for adult viewers.
  • Families can talk about Mama's violence. Do horror movies have to be gory to be scary? How did the movie's spooky scenes affect you?
  • What makes Mama scarier -- or less scary -- than other horror movies? How much spooky stuff does it show, and how much is hidden?
  • Do you think the children in the movie appreciate or understand the lengths to which the two "mother" characters care for them and love them? What messages is the movie sending about parenthood?
  • How does Annabel come to appreciate the role of motherhood? What is she like before that?
The good stuff
  • message true2 Positive messages: Mama brings up some heavy, complex ideas about motherhood, fear, love, devotion, protectiveness, and selflessness. Some of the characters learn to change, opening their hearts and accepting new kinds of relationships.
  • rolemodels true2 Positive role models: The girls' uncle is a selfless character who doesn't have much money but still wants to take care of his nieces. Annabel learns a great deal over the course of the movie, moving from being a very selfish person to a more giving and caring one.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Many very spooky, creepy, and outright scary images, but very little actual blood. Children appear to be in danger in many scenes, especially a few early ones in which 1- and 3-year-old girls are with their panicked, unhinged father. (They survive a car wreck.) Secondary characters are killed, but only offscreen. A few semi-gory drawings are glimpsed.
  • sex false1 Sexy stuff: The main character and her boyfriend kiss and start to undress each other, but they're interrupted. No nudity is shown.
  • language false3 Language: "F--k" is heard once during a voicemail message. "S--t" is said a few times, and "Jesus Christ" is used at least twice as an exclamation. Other words include "hell," "ass," butt," "crap," "oh my God," and "shut up."
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: Enterprise Rent-a-Car is mentioned by name.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Mama Featured Trailers + Video Clips

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Exclusive Features

Cast Interviews Exclusive Cast Interview Guillermo del Toro, Jessica Chastain talk about how the short film evolved into a feature, Chastain's ukelele skills and how Nikolaj Coster-Waldau lost money to the child actors. 1:1 with Guillermo del Toro We got the opportunity to chat with del Toro on all things 'Mama', Jessica Chastain and his busy schedule.