Rating: 
Summary: A Good Film
Review: I liked it. It was not an action film, it was not full of young sexy stars flaunting their stuff. It was slow, intelligent and wickedly funny in some parts. The scenes with Smilla's father's young girl-friend have to be seen to be believed. Watch it and enjoy, you won't be transported to another world, you won't come out wanting to be the next Luke Skywalker, but this film will make you think, (if you have the brain for it!) and if a video can do that, well what more can you ask for?
Rating:
Summary: Underrated
Review: I mean the movie AND the lead actress. The film is as good as the book and Julia Ormond is sensational.
Rating:
Summary: Smilla
Review: I saw this movie last year, and almost collapsed when I realized that it starred Richard Harris! This is a nice little mystery, and I think anyone who sees it will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT!
Review: I thought this was a wonderful adaptation of the novel as far as adaptations go. Julia Ormond is (as always) fabulous. This one will stay with you for a very long while after the credits have rolled. One of my Top Ten films of all time. A beautiful picture- do yourself a favor!
Rating: 
Summary: A flawed but worthy gem
Review: I was captivated by Peter Hoeg's novel when it first came out in English and thought it would make a great movie. Well, it does... sort of. I never would have cast Julia Ormond as a half-Inuit loner, but she is really very good in the part. And I'm glad they chose a Scandinavian director to translate it to the screen; I'm not sure others could have captured the cold physical and emotional landscape that is so crucial to this story. Many people have faulted the film's last quarter, when it suddenly becomes this bizarre hybrid of the "X Files" and "Silkwood," but I had the same problem with the novel-- Evil corporate greed and ethnic exploitation mixed with meteor-spawned lifeforms was a little more than I could buy into. Nevertheless, the scenes aboard the sparcely populated ship as it cuts through the frozen Arctic waters is a great (and different) location to launch a movie's action ending. Hoeg's novel and this movie instilled in me an as-yet unfulfilled urge to visit Greenland. It's a movie I anticipate watching repeatedly.
Rating:
Summary: A Cinematic Jewel
Review: I've seen this movie several times and never tire of it. See it - it's worth it. Julia Ormond plays Smilla who believes her young Inuit neighbor was murdered rather than killed in an accidental fall. Her mission is to find out who could have done it and why. Gabriel Byrne plays another neighbor - a mysterious mechanic - who tries to help her. The movie takes us from Copenhagen, Denmark to the great vastness of Greenland (Smilla's homeland) via the Davis Strait on a special cargo ship designed to break through ice. The cinematography is superb. The music (you can get it on CD)is as haunting as it is beautiful. Each actor's performance is well done and your heart strings will be pulled by the young man playing Isaiah. See it soon or buy it to own. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great acting, character development , scenery & music.
Review: Julia Ormond is amazing again in another very different incarnation of herself as Smilla the incredibly prickly ice princess. Wow! Everyone in the supporting cast is superb. Gabriel Byrne who usually plays cynical and tough does a nice job as a gentle, vunerable foil for Ormond's character. Smilla's character and the plot beautifully & slowly evolve(European style)but Ormond makes it feel like the movie is going to be over too soon and we'll have to leave the strange ice lady in her alien(to us) worlds of wintery Copenhagen and frigid Greenland. The whole first 3/4ths of the film is wonderful on every level--drama, mystery, psychology and romance. The last 1/4th of the movie is as if the writers or the director couldn't handle both action and drama/psychology at the same time. But who cares when most of this film has such outstanding acting, directing, scenery, atmosphere and an incredible musical score.
Rating:
Summary: The European Julia in A European Film
Review: Like Insomnia, this is a great Scandinavian suspense film. A mysterious film with a beautiful lead actress (Julia Ormond), and an enigmatic male lead (the elusive Gabriel Byrne). A thinking person's film. The last time I saw it was years ago, and it still lingers in my memory as one of my favorites. The cold scenes will leave you craving hot chocolate (or coffee, this is Scandinavia!) with your popcorn. It takes you out of yourself, which is what a good film is supposed to do. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Nancy Drew meets "The X-Files" - revisited
Review: Oh, brother. Once again, a pretentious potboiler has praise heaped upon it mainly because it doesn't have a lot of car chases and explosions. Oh, wait, this DOES have chases and explosions. Oh. Well, it has a deeply felt, original plot. Woman doesn't believe authorities, and follows the trail to.....a giant meteor. Oh. Well - character development, right? The poor daughter alienated from her wealthy father, who married a young slut. Hmmm - wasn't THAT on SOME soap (or ALL of 'em) last week? A character referred to as "The Mechanic" (and acts like one, too) who pops up ONLY when needed. HE reminds me of Raymond Chandler's advice: "If the story starts to slow down, have two guys with guns come through the door." The movie is better than the book, ONLY because you get some stunning scenery. The whole hokey plot comes through, with Smilla all too LOUD in her whininess and even more unbelievable since she is also drop-dead gorgeous. C'mon, this isn't a case of "it's more demanding, it requires effort on your part to appreciate it fully". This is simply PRETENTIOUS. There is no good reason for anyone to behave the way any character in this movie does (except for the child, who essentially kills himself to get away from the rest of them), and after an hour or so, you may want to join him. If ever a "big time" film richly deserved the MST3K treatment, THIS one is IT. And as Dr. Forrester used to say at the end of THEIR sessions, "Push the button, Frank."
Rating:
Summary: FLAWED BUT CAPTIVATING
Review: OH, THE DAUNTING TASK OF ADAPTING A NOVEL TO THE SCREEN, IT'S A WONDER ANYONE ACTUALLY ATTEMPTS TO DO THIS... HOWEVER, I FEEL THAT SMILLA SUCCEEDS. SURE, YOU COULD LEVEL KNEEJERK CRITICISMS THAT JULIA ORMANDE IS TOO PRETTY FOR THE ROLE, AND THAT YOUR FAVORITE PARTS OF THE NOVEL ARE GONE, BUT, I ACTUALLY LIKED THE CLEAN-UP JOB THAT WAS DONE. THE STORY IS STREAMLINED TO WORK AS A FEATURE FILM. I WAS WARY OF JULIA ORMANDE AS SMILLA BUT I THINK SHE'S SUBTLE AND FANTASTIC. I SEE NUANCES WITH EACH VIEWING. THE SET-PIECES ARE IMPRESSIVE, THE SMALL MOMENTS EXQUISITE, AND THE QUIRKS RETAINED IN SMILLA'S PERSONALITY ARE EXTREMELY REFRESHING, SUCH AS HER DEPRESSION, HER NOT-AT-ALL-CUTESY ATTACHMENT TO THE BOY, AND ESP., IN MY OPINION, THE PART OF THE NOVEL I THOUGHT THEY'D NEVER KEEP, WHERE SHE CONFRONTS HER FATHER'S BRATTY MISTRESS BY... OWCH! WELL, THAT WOULD BE TELLING... WHOOOOH... MIND YOU, IT'S ULTIMATELY AN IMCOMPLETE VIEWING EXPERIENCE; WHAT IS THERE IS GREAT, WHAT ISN'T LEAVES A BIT OF A VACUUM. HOWEVER, IT TOUCHED ME PERSONALLY AND I HAD TO OWN IT... RECOMMENDED...
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