Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

Adam Graham You come away admiring the effort while lamenting the execution, but swinging and missing is always better than not swinging at all.

Thelma Adams A ripe visual adventure of limitless imagination hamstrung by an undercooked plot propelled by lackluster heroes.

Matthew Lickona Utterly unreal space story from Luc Besson (he of The Fifth Element fame), who seems to have watched James Cameron's Avatar and decided he could make it sillier, more scattered, and less emotionally engaging.

Brian Lowry If nothing else, those who lament Hollywood's over-reliance on special effects have a shiny new example of such excess by way of Europe, situated in a faraway galaxy that mostly makes one yearn to escape into the sunlight of planet Earth.

James Berardinelli As a complete motion picture experience, it falls considerably short.

Sam Adams Besson's trying to cram in as much as he possibly can, but the more he overstuffs the movie, the emptier it feels.

A.O. Scott The City might be an interesting place to spend some time if a busy and chaotic story didn't keep getting in the way, and if we were allowed to hang out for a little while longer with Ethan Hawke and Rihanna.

Mark Jenkins Valerian is exuberant, extravagant, and generally likable. Yet many parts of the movie just don't work. Sticklers for things like acting and dialogue are likely to be dissatisfied.

Britton Peele Valerian is sci-fi at its most fantastical. It's a shame that the dialogue, acting and anything involving humans too often feels stilted and unbelievable.