Persepolis Critic Reviews

They're both tales of growing up in the shadow of Islamic fundamentalism, but Persepolis is everything "The Kite Runner" is not. It's a personal memoir rather than fiction, coolly observant instead of melodramatic, female rather than male in sensibility and sense of humor - it has a sense of humor.Read the full review

While so many films about coming of age involve manufactured dilemmas, here is one about a woman who indeed does come of age, and magnificently.Read the full review

The movie sparkles with witty self-awareness.Read the full review

A familiar story set in an unfamiliar context, it's a paean to the universality of human experience, a testament to the endurance of individuality during great political and fanatical upheaval, and a reminder that even the most complex situations, identities and stories are heartbreakingly simple.Read the full review

It's striking how much emotion Satrapi is able to convey through blocky drawings.Read the full review

A completely different kind of animated movie that, even more than "Ratatouille," reimagines what the medium can do.Read the full review

The filmmakers were right to believe that a live-action version of this story would have failed to achieve the universality Persepolis does.Read the full review

Persepolis, austere as it may look, is full of warmth and surprise, alive with humor and a fierce independence of spirit.Read the full review

The two main points Persepolis makes are that strife is relative, and all politics are personal.Read the full review