3.72 avg rating — 105,919 ratings

"The book was a poorly written, overblown mess, but the film made the book's absurdity somehow believable, and Streep and Eastwood delivered subtle, nuanced performances that were a joy to watch."

4.02 avg rating — 1,182,642 ratings

"The book was well-written but I never got a sense of Chris McCandless as anything other than a misguided, somewhat arrogant kid whose motives did not engage me. In the film, however, Penn gets a brilliant performance from Emile Hirsch, who humanizes McCandless in a way the book did not, and makes his foibles understandable and his inner conflict more sympathetic. Also, the film is dotted with some of the finest supporting performances in any recent film, and juxtaposed against vast expanses of American landscapes and the original music of eddie Vedder. It works on many levels, when the book just left me feeling a bit flat and empty."

4.18 avg rating — 638,292 ratings

"Both the book and the film have some intriguing ideas about human culture; the film just does a better job of conveying them. More a strength of the visuals and cinematography that convey the inherent conflicts in our society more effectively than the book could."

4.40 avg rating — 460,438 ratings

"Puzo's pulp gets a serious upgrade in one of the best films ever made."

3.81 avg rating — 931,395 ratings

"Meryl, Meryl and more Meryl. What a bitch! But don't you just love her?"