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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 44 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
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    The Village, even when its step falters, is on to something more provocative than seeing dead people. Its power, unrelated to digital monsters, comes from the tension building inside the characters. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly |

    It gives nothing of the plot away to say that there's a fine line between an ''Aha!'' and an ''Oh, brother!'' Whether you feel The Village crosses that line may hinge on whether you think Shyamalan's screenwriting ability is beginning to lag behind his skill as a director. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The Village emerges as a victim of its own ambitions. At one point, Edward advises Ivy: "Do your very best not to scream." That doesn't require much restraint on our part. Read full review

  • 60
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Unlike "The Sixth Sense," the film's key revelation might be too mild to jolt audiences. Some may even feel cheated. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    The Village yields a trick ending quite lame, quite tame and quite old; Rod Serling thought of it 40 years ago and he did it better. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety |

    A watchable film for awhile that unravels in a muddled last act likely to send many opening-weekend filmgoers home head-scratching and grumbling. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    The film's ridiculousness would not be so irksome if Mr. Shyamalan did not take his sleight of hand so seriously, if he did not insist on dressing this scary, silly, moderately clever fairy tale in a somber cloak of allegory. Read full review

  • 30
    Los Angeles Times | Kevin Thomas

    It's tedious instead of provocative and so unconvincing as to be preposterous. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    The Village seems poised to become as cheesy in its effects as a low-budget horror film. Shyamalan's gracefulness keeps his movie just out of that abyss. Read full review

  • 25
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A colossal miscalculation, a movie based on a premise that cannot support it, a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn. It's a flimsy excuse for a plot, with characters who move below the one-dimensional and enter Flatland. Read full review

View more reviews for The Village on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Thought-provoking thriller too intense for some.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this is a very tense and scary thriller that may be too much for some tweens. Know your kid. While much of the scary stuff is in the audience's imagination, there are some scary jump-out-at-you surprises and some gory graphic images. Characters are attacked and killed. Some viewers may be concerned about the portrayal of a developmentally delayed and possibly disturbed character.
  • Families can talk about what drew the families in the village to settle where they did in spite of the risks. They could also think about whether there were any clues in the movie that pointed to the ultimate twist. Why did Edward send Ivy? The movie was originally called "The Woods." Is that a better title? What is the scariest part of the movie and why?
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Intense peril, characters killed, some graphic images and scary surprises.
  • sex false0 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false0 Language: Not an issue
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • 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.

The Village Movie Ratings + Reviews

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So-so 1,610 fan reviews

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