Under the Same Moon: Critic Reviews

Before you can say, 'Wow, that sounds boring,' director Patricia Riggen has smuggled us, with no-bull authority, into the rituals, jokes, and survival games of a culture of half-existence: people who live in two places and nowhere at all.

Directed, with visible earnestness, by Patricia Riggen, Under the Same Moon blunts the hard edges of immigration with a thick coating of preciousness.

Under the Same Moon is a heartfelt story of unquenchable hope, with the plight of illegal immigrants serving as an intriguing and timely backdrop.

Thanks to the uncommonly shrewd judgment of screenwriter Ligiah Villalobos and director Patricia Riggen, both newcomers, Under the Same Moon never feels like rank exploitation, even as it steadily aims for the emotional jugular.

Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) is the nightmare Lou Dobbs has when he goes to sleep at night.

The film's destination feels overdetermined despite its sweetness.

Director Patricia Riggen's film mostly succeeds, despite a sometimes maudlin story that seems to bring multiple dangers a day to its young hero.

Much of the plotting is schematic, and some of the moments meant to tug our heartstrings clearly flow from the melodramatic telenovela form. Yet the scheme transcends itself in surprising ways. Love conquers lots, while the kid conquers the rest.

The magical glow makes it easier to address some heart-rending themes that might be too disturbing if told in a more straightforward manner.

What does it say about a film when you believe only parts of the journey, yet are moved by the arrival?

Your enjoyment of this picaresque tearjerker may depend on how much you can tolerate its shameless contrivances and didactic social realism, whereby the story exists only to illustrate the plight of illegal aliens.

A story that's too cute, too corny and too contrived.

Under the Same Moon, despite some mature themes, is fine family entertainment. It is a crowd pleaser in the best sense of the word, compelling, humorous and profoundly moving.

An enjoyable story of hope and resilience, buoyed by the performances of Kate del Castillo as Rosario, the mom, and Adrian Alonso as Carlitos, her son.

Manipulative storytelling and overly simplistic handling of a divisive issue.

[An] overly sentimental drama, which -- although sweetly well-intentioned -- is stereotypical and overwrought.

It's a warm drama that humanizes Americas current illegal immigration debate even as it sentimentally stacks the deck in favor of the undocumented.

The performances -- and the movie's sideways glance at the culture of illegal immigrants, including a funny song about Superman ('He has no social security and no green card') -- give the movie its nicely controlled vitality.

It's a bit of a guilty pleasure, with its formulas and its sap, but if it can get Lou Dobbs reaching for that Kleenex, it will have done its job.

If Under the Same Moon is formula melodrama, the film is well acted and its lead character perceptively drawn.

The strong final third counterbalances the weaknesses of the first half.

This largely Spanish-language film brings on the waterworks because its core story is undeniably affecting. The whole movie, however, would be more convincing if the elements around that vital core were more multidimensional and less contrived.

Tiptoes the line between tragedy and hope and never loses its balance in its account of life and luck in the US-Mexican borderlands.

Story of seperated mother and child doesn't carry much emotional impact. Makes you wonder how much mi madre really cares. Turns into a road drama with the kid headed to Los Angeles. Just couldn't care for the characters. Paul Chambers, CNN.