This is one of those films that, like the old adage says, you either love or you hate. I loved it. I'm actually surprised how much I loved it given the lack of dialogue or story structure. This film reminded me of excerpts of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the old home movies of a middle class American family mixed together. Brad Pitt does the lion's share of the talking as the family patriarch, a proud, angry, sometimes volatile man who cares for his family but is haunted by resentment and disappointment. It is a splendid performance by Pitt who for all intents and purposes carries the entire movie. However, it is when the film focuses on the visual that it truly impresses. Not since 2001 has space been beautifully captured, nor has the many splendors of earth and ocean been so brightly displayed. Director Terrence Malick has long been regarded as a reclusive genius, the closest thing to Kubrick that still exists, well this confirms it once and for all. The Tree of Life is a stunning achievement, proof of what great things the art of cinema is capable of when in the hands of truly impassioned artists.

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Excellent cinematography but this is not enough to carry a film without plot. Images are beautiful until dinosaurs start to pop up. Then it becomes silly. To link a very ordinary coming-of-age story to the origins of the universe is ridiculous. Despite its pretentious ambitions, this film is eye candy and nothing more.

Great movie!! It's a masterpiece...

It is a movie that shows the beauty in the nature and inside of people. Through the eyes of a child, we are amazed and worried about his relationship with his father and with others. The cinematography is well planned and the music mixes well with the scenes. The cast is well distributed and the choreography is amazing.

The Tree of Life was really weird, it hardly had any talking going around, and I didn't get the story at all, and I'm not surprised with anybody else in the world thinking it's boring and weird too!

It really was one of the worst movies I, my husband and my 11 year old daughter has ever seen. I usually love foreign style and indi movies... this one was too long and very boring. The cinematography was pretty good though... that's the 1.

As someone whose daughter has recently died, I found this film transcendent. Poetic and deeply emotive, the story speaks eloquently to themes of mortality and the inevitable frailties that exist in and among families.

On first watch, I didn't like this film, but it sticks in the memory.

I saw this movie on my birthday, and found it quite suitable as an expose for life in general. Malleck plays with time to create a sense of significance and insignificance for our daily lives. At times the movie makes you feel quite small, and yet at other times godlike.

The Tree of Life is a family that is in turmoil but what family isn't? It did not need to take 2hrs and 18 minutes to tell a story. I understand the story and I understand the reasoning of the movie but what I do not understand is why did it take all this fluff to tell a story?

I wish I had read the reviews before deciding to see this film. As I get older I exercise more patience - hence I stayed in vain to understand what the film was about. Subtitles would have been helpful. I tried to tell a friend but could not. There should be a new category of warning: Not recommended for individuals who have a life. You could not pay me enough to see this disjointed collage again. I am afraid, I will absent myself from the movies for another year or two - just so that I might recover in the meantime. Brrr!

Like no other film. Beautiful, serene, intuitive... It is really quite simple and straight forward. Compassion is the one word that comes to mind. You will only "get it" if you go in and let it wash over you. As soon as you start "trying" to get it you will have lost it. People wanting and expecting "normal' cinema - don't waste your time. Looking over the other comments I am greatly saddened by how people will react with aversion when they don't understand something. Come on people, lighten up! Why not just be honest and say "I didn't understand."

This movie is a complete waste of time... well, I can only comment on the parts I saw which maybe amount to half. The rest of the time I was sleeping. There was an attempt here to make something out of the ordinary, but they failed. Boring, long and drawn out and the music is annoying and goes on forever. However if you've been having problems sleeping and are looking to have a good nap, this movie is perfect.

Malick takes us on a journey that is visually, formally and thematically challenging. His film is in part a compelling view into the complex world of family and adolescence with all its difficulties joy, power, shame, guilt, intimidation, guilt and curiosity. It reinforces the notion that if our relationship with God is inscrutable, no less so is our relationships with our mothers, siblings and fathers. Ultimately, it is a film that invites one to examine and re-examine how deeply we are prepared to love in this life...

Ah, I so wanted to love this movie, because Brad Pitt has turned into a fine actor, as has Sean Penn. But as Mr. Penn himself said in an interview "I don't know why I am in the movie" and frankly neither do I. There's often a problem when the director is also the writer, lack of objectivity, and this movie could have easily lost 30 minutes. The cinematography was indeed breathtaking but had no place in this narrative, better as an IMAX documentary. The little boy's acting was wonderful and Brad Pitt did a fine rendition of a father in the '50s, was it '50s? '60s? Who could tell from the mother's hair? The pre-raphaelite look was completely out of place, just like the dinosaurs.

Truly an excellent movie: visually and aurally stunning. An expertly acted and directed film that explores the meanings of life. Profound, if you allow yourself to be open to this work of art.

If you want a sublime, rich, multi-layered, complex, thoughtful and moving cinematic masterpiece that you can contemplate and mine the message for weeks afterwards, this is the movie for you. If you want facile summer fare perhaps you should look elsewhere.

The film will stay with you for quite a few days, giving you lots to reflect on. Don't expect a coherent narrative. Just allow the stunning visuals to wash over you. It's a visceral experience.

This movie is so pitiful because it tries so hard to be a film I will love and adore, but like imitation peanut butter it simply leaves a horrible taste in my mouth and nothing but rage over such an abysmal piece of self indulgent nonsense!

I would have left in the first 10 minutes, if I hadn't gone to the theatre to escape a heat wave. I wish I had braved the summer elements. The movie was torture to watch.

Great movie about love, life and loss.

Moving. Worth the time, flawed, but still great. If you're looking for a traditional, linear story-line, don't bother, you'll just be frustrated. Functions on an understated emotional and abstract level which, at the outset, can seem odd and difficult to grasp, but letting yourself be carried away by its unique voice pays off. The film has numerous beautiful, profound moments that seem to articulate the essence of life's experience perfectly. Brad Pitt, surprisingly for me, was excellent. I saw the film twice and enjoyed it more the second time. Must be seen in a theatre or on a big screen. We're lucky to have people who make films like this.

This movie is beautiful and brilliant. Not to be missed. It illuminates the complexity of love, family and life itself.

You can not treat this as a simple film. It's a work of art. Very similar to Andrei Tarkovsky's type of work. Well done!

The trailer really intrigued me. But while watching it, I kept waiting to get to the parts where they actually act. I think too much of the film was spent on the artistic impressionism. Although while I was watching it, I could certainly appreciate that it took a lot of effort and creativity, to come up with that. And I was also a bit disappointed that Penn's character didn't speak much. I felt his talents were really wasted, in this movie. Where on the other hand, I felt Pitt's abilities were maximized, much like his role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I would have cut out a bit of the artistic to make some room for Penn to act some more, because I really wanted to better understand how his childhood experiences affected his adult life. Definitely, this film was unique and very engrossing. I see lots of films and it's nice to appreciate the atypical, as well as the usual blockbuster types. Go see it, just to stretch your repertoire a bit, if nothing else.

Self indulgent nature channel-like footage went on and on. And the dinosaurs? Oh C'mon! Wish we'd walked out at the beginning, just kept waiting for it to get better. Instead it got worse, so for the first time in my life, we walked out of a movie. There will be those who will insist they understood it all, and that it was wonderful, etc. I don't think they are being honest with themselves.

A sensitive impressionistic masterpiece that shows Jack reflecting on his childhood through flashbacks, questions he's thought about life, and where he fits into everything. There's an outstanding clip of the origins of life... I found it overwhelming and beautiful. It is a new way to employ film as art. If you are artistic and open-minded you will love it. If you like car chases etc. and typical American crap you will not like the non-linear openness and beauty this film offers.

A most enlightening movie. Unfortunately, far beyond the average.

I loved it and was in complete awe of the entire piece, much like how I am in awe of life itself. Beautiful.

Pretentious, self-aggrandizing claptrap. Avoid at all costs. Why on earth would the filmmakers import Fiona Shaw at undoubtedly great cost, for three minutes' work on screen?

Long and mostly pretentious film. Following a drama in a 50’s very white and ordinary american family, we are trusted in a transcendental realms «à la Kubrick», but without the effect and the precision of the Master. The cinematography is top notch, though. Brad Pitt, (one of the film’s producers) usually the pretty boy, shows his depth here as an actor and Sean Penn has never looked so good on film. This film tries to reach a spiritual, even religious level, but the end result is vastly disappointing.

This was possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen!! I walked out about 2/3 of the way through, other people walked out after 15 mins. My two regrets about this film are paying money and staying as long as I did waiting for the movie to get better!!!

Well I knew going in it was going to be original. I still cannot decide if I liked the movie or not. The cinematography was beautiful, as was the music. I like lots of different genres of movies and don't need action packed/spell it out/star studded films. I did feel that the movie was a bit indulgent and was made to purposely be over the heads of most of us. It made me feel a bit stupid as it took me quite a while to put the pieces together and that said - I still don't think I probably understood it all properly. Even so, I am glad I saw it and I did really like the characters and thought the acting was excellent. Go see it if you want a really "out of the box" thinker of a movie. Just don't expect it to be all neat and tidy.

You'll like it or hate it. I've rarely seen so many people walk out of a movie. The music and cinematography are very good. If you lose the big picture it becomes boring. When the lights came on a lot of people were left expecting more. Not for every one. A parallel of earth's history and that of a family.

Terrible waste of time, I don't know what the director attempted to do, but he failed, at least I hope because if this is what he expected, then I feel bad for him...

Like the other reviewers said, this is not a movie for most people. The couple in front of us walked out after 5 minutes. I wish we had done the same. Don't waste your time or money with this movie unless you like very odd, extremely depressing, way-out-there artistic movies. Yuk!

It is life as a whole not just a glimpse of it.

Too much cinematography, constant video clips at different angles etc., not enough dialogue. It is draining, consistently the same throughout. I thought the beginning was boring, and was anticipating it would eventually get better but the same repetitive stuff continued to the end. Four people around me walked out 20 minutes in, I wish I followed them. I went to the movie because the trailer seemed interesting like it would have good cinematography, but if you have seen the trailer just picture that for a couple hours and that is the movie, almost no dialogue, a few dreamy whispers of thought.

Undoubtably the worst movie I have seen in years. A lot of dead space and even when there were spoken parts they could not be clearly understood. No continuity or story line. Very poorly done! Too much silence and very confusing! Very disappointing!

I kept hoping it would become interesting but it did not. I did not like anything about this movie. It's extremely boring and I don't think it is well done at all.