"Like its defector hero, Mao's Last Dancer is neither here nor there...determinedly dull, even in the flatly filmed ballet sequences."

Oh I can hear it now. "Ballet!!!" I've never seen a ballet in my life, but I appreciate dance and this was awesome. It presents an incredible story, but I can see the writing on the wall from the mainstream media reviewers. "Thumbs down, it's pro-America, pro-capitalist propaganda dredged up about a guy who didn't know how lucky he was". As he says in the movie, he dances better in America because he is freer here. The only negative is the low definition print (It's on blu ray?).

Well made but annoyingly sentimental.

"Beresford can't even represent Li's dancing (the reason we're meant to root for this little foreigner that could in the first place) with a modicum of dynamism." - Simon Abrams

Uninspired, static treatment of Li Cunxin's tale. The frame is constrained by an attempt to conceal that filming took place in Australia; image quality is poor. Budgetary issues may have hampered the realization of the vision. More importantly, however, the very mechanical approach to constructing the narrative largely fails to convey the sweep and drama inherent to the story, nor the political, economic, historical, personal and aesthetic themes involved. If only Scorsese had directed it...