"Fresh, sparkling, natural and full of soul."
— Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
"A thematically rich and acutely moving update for both a new generation and certainly many more to follow."
— Jordan Raup, The Film Stage
"The acting performances are stellar across the board, though the biggest joy of Little Women is Gerwig’s magnificent screenplay."
— Brian Truitt, USA Today
"Warm but never wishy-washy, cosy without being cutesy, this is a superb adaptation of the source and further evidence that Gerwig is the real deal."
— Helen O'Hara, Empire
"Gerwig’s adaptation looks at the eponymous little women through ambitious storytelling techniques that modernize the book’s timeless story in unexpected ways."
— Kate Erbland, IndieWire
"There's nothing little about Greta Gerwig's rich, warm, bustlingly populated and passionately devoted new tribute to Louisa May Alcott's classic novel of sisterhood."
— Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
"As one might hope, Gerwig's interpretation does right by the material, sticking to the original period and setting and assembling a dream cast to play the March siblings."
— Peter Debruge, Variety
"Little Women is the best kind of Hollywood film: thoughtful yet escapist, sophisticated yet accessible, expertly crafted and deeply felt. The performances are all top notch—Ronan and Pugh, especially, breathe new life into their characters. Gerwig’s direction is also first rate."
— Katie Rife, The A.V. Club
"In an era in which sentimentality is a seasoning that filmmakers either shun entirely or employ with too heavy a hand, Gerwig crafts a work about love and family and devotion and empathy that is moving without being manipulative. This is a Little Women for the ages."
— Alonso Duralde, TheWrap
"More than anything, this is a film in love with its characters’ passions, a rich and effortlessly vibrant examination of the four March “little women” (so called by their father) and the ways, at least initially, they’re practically bursting with the innocent it’s-happening-right-now joy of being young and alive."
— Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"It feels, exhilaratingly, like the throwing down of a gauntlet. Gerwig’s Little Women demands its viewers reconsider these familiar characters and what we’ve always assumed they stood for. It doesn’t just brim with life, it brims with ideas about happiness, economic realities, and what it means to push against or to hew to the expectations laid out for one’s gender."
— Alison Willmore, New York Magazine (Vulture)
"A big step up in scale for a writer-director who got her start in the freewheeling world of low-budget indies. Seeing her pull off a grand period drama with such confidence, humor, and style leaves you with a sensation not unlike what Jo March must be feeling in the film’s final scene, as she watches while her first book is printed, sewn, and bound, a tiny smile playing on her lips. I can’t believe it’s all finally happening, her face seems to say. I can’t wait to see what comes next."
— Dana Stevens, Slate
