| 80 |
Washington Post Tom Shales
If you see only one pope movie this month, and that ought to be enough, CBS's "Pope John Paul II" is by far the wiser choice. |
| 75 |
USA Today Robert Bianco
Pope lacks the independent spirit and grasp of history that might have been gained had CBS allowed more than five minutes for reflection before plunging into production. Even so, by using its length to present a better picture of the times in which the pope lived, it inevitably paints a better picture of the person shaped by those times. |
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly Timothy Guanatilaka
Benefits from its four-hour running time. [2 Dec 2005, p.74] |
| 70 |
Newsday Verne Gay
The standard against which future [Pope] efforts will be judged. |
| 60 |
Variety Brian Lowry
More than anything, Voight's performance overcomes the character's passivity (praying and faith are hard to translate on TV) and taps into John Paul's emotional life. |
| 60 |
Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
Voight's cagey talents and a generally better script [than the ABC movie] manage to capture at least a bit of the pope's irresistible personality. |
| 60 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Ann Rodgers
If CBS does not explain why many Catholics criticized this pope, it does reveal why most of those who criticized him also loved him. |
| 60 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland
Our modern tastes may favor brevity, but at least CBS understands the importance of taking the time to see "Pope John Paul II" as a fully rounded human being as opposed to a hollow icon. |
| 60 |
The New York Times Alessandra Stanley
CBS does a better, more thorough job [than ABC] of telling his story, and Mr. Voight is convincing and compelling as the adult Karol Wojtyla. But the mini-series's perspective is a shade more orthodox. |
| 50 |
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
The script often comes across as if it had been written by the papal press office. |
| 50 |
New York Post Linda Stasi
Unfortunately, instead of making Karol Wojtyla into a flesh-and-blood human being, the late Pope John Paul II is turned into Mother Teresa. No good deed goes unexamined, and no bad move is ever even mentioned. |
| 50 |
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
Although the script is predictably reverential, the acting performances are nonetheless admirable. |
| 40 |
Time James Poniewozik
In the end, both [CBS' and ABC's Pope] movies stick to what viewers can agree on (commies and Nazis, bad; love, good), while skipping much of the Pope's sometimes polarizing tenure as a leader. |
| 40 |
Slate Dana Stevens
It's the last two hours of the CBS movie that stand out amidst the week's grim slog of papal programming, if only because of Voight's sly, twinkling performance as a pope for all seasons. |
| 38 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
CBS, in its four hours, has better scenery and more ornate sets and locations. Portions were shot in and around the Vatican and elsewhere, but in such scenes the architecture overwhelms the actors and narrative. |
| 30 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
Except for rich moments from Jon Voigt, who plays CBS's pope with a dry, playful humor, he's portrayed as too good to be true, too lily-white to be dramatically interesting. |
| 30 |
Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd
[Voight gives] an impressive performance that does not keep the film he's in from becoming tedious. (It is corny and predictable even before he arrives.) |
| 10 |
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
Deadly dull. |
| 0 |
Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
The CBS miniseries... does resemble a "movie" more than [ABC's "Have No Fear"] does. But winning a battle of biopic pope-offs on a loophole is hardly admirable. |
