Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

HotToastyRag Kevin Costner is a pretty likable guy. Even when he's an escaped convict who kidnaps a child. While Perfect World isn't a comedy, it's hardly a drama either. Costner kidnaps T.J. Lowther, and practically from the get-go, they act like bosom buddies. Only once does this kid ask to be taken back to his family, which I found a little confusing. He's been kidnapped by a gun-waving convict, and he bonds to him as a father figure. But, since the boy's father isn't in the picture, I guess that might be the point of the movie.Clint Eastwood (who also directs) is the cutie-pie cop trailing Costner, and Laura Dern is absolutely adorable as the federal agent assigned to help him. Her Southern accent is very charming, and they make a very cute on screen couple, whether or not romance enters the plot.No one's character is really developed or explained. Costner is obviously a bad guy, but he fathers this kid for no reason. Despite teaching the boy to steal, con, lie, and run from the police, he's supposed to share a special "aw shucks" bond with him? The kid interrupts Costner when he's about to get lucky, but instead of shooing him away or yelling at him, he says goodbye to the woman, gets back in the car with the kid, and tells the impressionable boy that he was in love with the woman (a waitress he only knew for five minutes). Is he trying to teach the boy good or bad things? I wasn't really sure. All in all, it's a pretty predictable movie, but it's not a terrible one.

bkoganbing Clint Eastwood stars and directs A Perfect World where he plays a Texas Ranger. But he yields top actor billing to Kevin Costner playing a fugitive who takes 8 year old T.J. Lowther as a hostage. This was as it should have been because Costner has way more screen time than Eastwood.Costner and Keith Szarabajka escape from maximum security and kill a prison official and steal his car, the first of many stolen vehicles Costner will take. His second car exchange comes with young T.J. Lowther as well when Costner and Szarabajka stop at his mother's place.Young Lowther is being raised by a Jehovah Witness mom who forbids him a lot of what kids consider normal. After a bit he starts to bond with Costner who had a similar deprived childhood under vastly different circumstances. For a while Costner and Lowther view this escape as quite an adventure. But of course stern reality takes over.Although Eastwood is good his part is fairly one dimensional. A lot of it has to do with integrating newly assigned criminologist Laura Dern into his manhunt team, accent on man. Eastwood's an old school law enforcement guy, but some around him are of an even older school.The scenes with Costner and Lowther are the highlight of the film. The two really get a special chemistry going courtesy of director Eastwood.For those who like actor Eastwood they will be shortchanged. But director Eastwood is right on the job here.

Predrag This film is one of those rare movies that manage to use the strengths of all involved. First, this is the very best of Clint Eastwood both as a director and actor. Eastwood the director learned his trade from Don Siegel, who made a bunch of no-nonsense 70's action films, many of them with Eastwood as the star. Eastwood learned his trade well from the master. He can edit the fat out of a film very effectively. Eastwood the actor really shines in this film as well in a supporting role as a Texas Ranger at the tail end of a career doing a kind of slow burn as events unfold around him.The story flow feels a little bit choppy, and not having watched other Eastwood-directed films, I'm not sure where the majority of the blame falls. The editing is simple and to the point, which occasionally makes shots feel too obvious, but again, after only one viewing, I don't have the problem completely pinpointed yet. The darkness brings the story to very believable light, but there are also some more complex relationships and themes in A Perfect World. Savannah Smiles is about two crooks changing their ways. This film is about fatherhood, or at least the fatherhood role. And in contrast to the film's title, fathers aren't always perfect. One thing, however, that this movie shouts perfectly clearly is a call to men: boys look to those around them for mentors. And even if you're a murdering, stealing, lying crook, there's quite likely some young boy who sees something you do, and thinks "I want to be like that." Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

The Couchpotatoes I really don't get what the fuss is about with this movie. It's really not that special at all. I normally like what Clint Eastwood does but this one is for sure not his best achievement. Don't get me wrong, I don't say the actors are bad, especially not Kevin Costner or the little kid T.J.Lowther, but the storyline isn't worth much. The only thing that makes it worth watching is the bond between Costner and Lowther. For the rest it's all downhill. Okay we all know that cops are not the brightest people on earth, but here in this movie they are almost borderline retarded. If that's how a man on the run has to be caught then they won't catch a lot of fugitives. And this one doesn't even make real attempts to escape, he's just cruising around with the boy. Highly overrated movie to me.