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Life Is Beautiful Reviews

1998

80
from 28,150 members

An inspired, award-winning story about the power of love and the human spirit, Life Is Beautiful has been called a modern masterpiece! Guido - a charming but bumbling waiter who's gifted with a colourful imagination and an irresistible sense of humour - has won the heart of the woman he loves and created a beautiful life for .. Read more

Starring	Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini
Director	Roberto Benigni
Genres	Drama, Romance

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Critic's review of Life Is Beautiful
View all critics' reviews (6)
- A bold and brave film, and one well worth seeing, despite some rather contrived slapstick in the early sequences; yet, in the end, clowning does not merely seem an inappropriate response to the realities of a concentration camp, but the wrong response.
- 30105
- - Halliwell's Film Guide
  - 02 Mar 2006 at 15:38
Write your own review »
Most helpful member's review of Life Is Beautiful
View all members' reviews (344)
- - 135
  - 8
  Watch It
  
  Starting off as a light hearted comedy and progressing in to an amusing and engaging look at some very dark subject matter, Life is Beautiful is almost two ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 2450
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - a customer
  - Glasgow, Scotland
  - 24 Feb 2004 at 21:02
Most recent members' reviews of Life Is Beautiful
View all members' reviews (344)
- - 0
  - 0
  This film is Beautiful
  
  Wow, this is the best film I've seen in a few years. I only watched it because the man who sold me the film package recommended it. My partner hates ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1112720
- - sophless
  - 1 review
  - 20 Apr 2012 at 12:03
- - 0
  - 0
  Thoroughly enjoyable
  
  I laughed long and loud several times. His own characteristics arent in his control, thats the point. We percieve him as courageous and funny but only ever ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1097030
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - angeltoes
  - 7 reviews
  - 27 Feb 2012 at 11:09
- - 0
  - 0
  Helpful for A level Italian
  
  Helpful for my daughter who is studying A level Italian. Quite a novel way of telling the Holocaust story - in a comical way with dark undertones.
  
  Report this review
- 1086935
- - a customer
  - 30 Jan 2012 at 12:17
- - 0
  - 0
  Funny but Sad
  
  A wonderfully human story with highly likable characters but be prepared for the rapid switch to tragic sadness that is perhaps not expected from the review ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1066936
- - a customer
  - 25 Nov 2011 at 12:56
- - 0
  - 9
  Not a great Benigni
  
  Not one of Benigni's greatest. The balance between humour and the awful reality of Nazi concentration camp life did not really work, and I was left with the... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1058097
- - a customer
  - 02 Nov 2011 at 21:38
- - 1
  - 0
  Your child is a piece of your heart
  
  Don't miss it,!a tragic comic love story,
  
  A father that keeps a brave face and doesnT let anyone upset his little boy,
  
  Report this review
- 1051993
- - Floriosangy
  - 7 reviews
  - 16 Oct 2011 at 18:38
- - 1
  - 0
  A memorable story.
  
  I can understand some reviewers comments about the apparent flippancy with which the imprisonment of the Jews is treated, but the measures which Guido takes to ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1051356
- - Brianco
  - 2 reviews
  - 14 Oct 2011 at 15:38
- - 0
  - 0
  Great film
  
  Lovely film. Starts off a bit cheesy and then gets a bit more serious, but give it a watch and after the first 5 to 10 minutes you'll be hooked.
  
  Report this review
- 1046058
- - bikemadperry
  - 4 reviews
  - Southampton
  - 29 Sep 2011 at 14:55
- - 2
  - 0
  Life is beautiful
  
  Don't be put off by the first half hour it becomes a beautiful, heart warming film. It is unusual and well worth watching.
  
  Report this review
- 1045241
- - a customer
  - 26 Sep 2011 at 22:05
- - 2
  - 0
  Tragicomic Masterwork
  
  Poignant, powerful, funny and moving. A Brilliant piece of entertainment.
  
  Roberto Benigni demonstrates his comic genius and has directed ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1044789
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - Foeldrigarn
  - 13 reviews
  - Europe
  - 25 Sep 2011 at 19:46
View all members' reviews (344)

- - 135
  - 8
  Watch It
  
  Starting off as a light hearted comedy and progressing in to an amusing and engaging look at some very dark subject matter, Life is Beautiful is almost two ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 2450
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - a customer
  - Glasgow, Scotland
  - 24 Feb 2004 at 21:02
- - 43
  - 28
  The most over rated film of all time!
  
  Surely this is in the top 5 of most over rated films of all time. OK, first viewing was heart warming, but simply can't live up to the rave review. Come on... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 10108
- - Kev
  - Staffordshire
  - 10 Jul 2004 at 23:59
- - 30
  - 5
  Interesting ...
  
  There's no denying the fact that, considering he wrote, directed and starred in it, this is a fantastic achievement for Roberto Benigni. It's not ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 24885
- - Noel Clay
  - Colchester, England
  - 09 Nov 2004 at 20:13
- - 24
  - 3
  An absolute gem
  
  This film is probably one of my favourite films ever. It never ceases to move me through a whole plethora of emotions.
  
  Everything about it is ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 297782
- - Fizzy
  - London
  - 19 Jan 2004 at 10:07
- - 24
  - 10
  Grotesque
  
  This is the film for you if you like lovable nazis and concentration camps with piped music and where hardly anyone gets hurt.
  
  A shallow, vapid self-... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 488270
- - Peter
  - Sussex
  - 26 Oct 2007 at 12:56
- - 19
  - 1
  One of the best ever
  
  I cannot understand the people who rated this film on a low grade. They obviously missed the subtlety of it all. The father, a born comedian,simply wants to be ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 61309
- - Christ W
  - Accrington, Lancs
  - 30 Dec 2004 at 23:37
- - 17
  - 2
  Funny and achingly ...
  
  Funny and achingly moving in a unsentimental way that only european cinema can achieve. Refirms your faith in the human race.
  
  Report this review
- 48725
- - trotsuk
  - 117 reviews
  - LONDON
  - 05 Oct 2004 at 10:19
- - 11
  - 3
  Have a packet of tissues handy...
  
  This is one of (if not perhaps the) best films I have seen in a long time. A personal perspective of tragedy on a vast scale, the approach of Benigni using ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 298504
- - esthersmile
  - worcs
  - 28 Jan 2004 at 08:42
- - 10
  - 1
  One of the best ever
  
  I cannot understand the people who rated this film on a low grade. They obviously missed the subtlety of it all. The father, a born comedian,simply wants to be ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 61310
- - Christ W
  - Accrington, Lancs
  - 30 Dec 2004 at 23:38
- - 9
  - 2
  A must see
  
  One of the most memorable movies I have ever seen. Not to be missed by anyone. It is not only funny, emotional and beautifully filmed, it’s also brings to ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 302742
- - Joel1
  - london
  - 20 Apr 2004 at 17:11

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Critics' reviews
- A bold and brave film, and one well worth seeing, despite some rather contrived slapstick in the early sequences; yet, in the end, clowning does not merely seem an inappropriate response to the realities of a concentration camp, but the wrong response.
- 30105
- - Halliwell's Film Guide
  - 02 Mar 2006 at 15:38
- "...[Benigni] succeeds, to an extraordinary degree, in reviving the neo-Technicolor lushness and affectionate screwball rhythms of postwar Hollywood....A delicate romance spiked with antifascist farce..."
- 7522
- - Entertainment Weekly
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58
- "...Mr. Benigni effectively creates a situation in which comedy is courage. And he draws from this an unpretentious, enormously likable film that plays with history both seriously and mischievously..."
- 7523
- - New York Times
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58
- Audacious but misguided, this determinedly Chaplinesque comic fable starts well enough with the innocent, childlike... read more on Time Out
- 43223
- - Time Out
  - 04 Nov 2008 at 00:13
- "...[Benigni] puts a serious spin on his comic genius..."
- 7524
- - Premiere
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58
- "...[A] magnificent film....Real emotional strength..."
- 7525
- - Sight and Sound
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58

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Buy from Amazon.co.uk

- - Buy
- Life Is Beautiful - Blu-ray
  
  An inspired, award-winning story about the power of love and the human spirit, Life Is Beautiful has been called “a modern masterpiece” (Chicago Tribune) Guido – a charming but bumbling waiter who is gifted with a colourful imagination and an irresistible sense of humour – ...

- - Buy
- Life Is Beautiful
  
  An inspired, award-winning story about the power of love and the human spirit, Life Is Beautiful has been called a modern masterpiece! Guido - a charming but bumbling waiter who's gifted with a colourful imagination and an irresistible sense of humour - has won the heart of the woman he loves and ...