the result is a movie that has all the weaknesses and few of the strengths of its source material; Though often entrancing, the movie isn't saying quite as much as it thinks it is
the film grows more florid and dramatic as it unfolds, and more disjointed; even with reliable actors like Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, and Luke Wilson on hand, the storytelling feels clunky in a way "Brooklyn" never did
despite its impressive credentials, "The Goldfinch" arrives as one of the year's deadliest disappointments; The result is huge narrative gaps in which a multitude of characters lack motivation and purpose and the writing fails to hold attention
a well-acted, handsomely-staged, ambitiously-produced and refreshingly grown-up film in an era when merely being a singular feature-length story is perhaps the most significant commercial handicap a film can have
a lifeless film; the story "The Goldfinch" tells feels utterly absurd; Donna Tartt's bestseller doesn't fly on the big screen, as "Brooklyn" director John Crowley adapts it into one of the year's dullest films
"The Goldfinch" feels like more than the sum of its disparate parts; a painting in the wrong frame, maybe, but one whose imperfect beauty still draws you in