The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

PG

Released Sep 20, 2023

39m

Comedy

Adventure

Short

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

96 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: A rich man learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes. He sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling. Extremely faithfully adapted from Roald Dahl’s long short story.

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Critics Consensus

With The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson returns to the world of Roald Dahl -- and proves his distinctive style is a comfortable fit for one of the author's sweetest stories.

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Audience Says

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar proves Wes Anderson still has what it takes to adapt Roald Dahl, although the concept might be unsatisfying for some.

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Sophie Gilbert

The Atlantic

It’s thrilling to be distracted by really good storytelling. But it’s more thrilling to be provoked, or even altered by it.

Oct 16, 2023

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Christy Lemire

Breakfast All Day

I think this is the just the right bite-size amount of Wes Anderson... I kind of feel like shorts are an excellent use of his his style [and] his voice.

Oct 14, 2023

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Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack)

Anderson seems to have perfected the art of simultaneously showing and telling – a tinkertoy approach to cinema that can pall over the length of a feature but plays with delightful brio in a short.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 13, 2023

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Zach Youngs

InSession Film

The stories themselves are fascinating...

Rated: B

Jul 3, 2024

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Tim Miller

Cape Cod Wave Magazine

Anderson’s whimsical, storybook approach fits perfectly for this playful adaptation of a 1977 Roald Dahl short story about how a gambler learns to cheat by seeing through cards.

Rated: 3.5/4

May 4, 2024

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Armond White

National Review

Rather than expanding and becoming richer, Anderson’s method folds in, like origami.

Mar 22, 2024

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Brent S

Modern hip directors like Mr Anderson try to replicate classic film techniques and styles to align themselves with the much more talented and entertaining directors of the past. They want to disguise the fact that they are not entertaining and nowhere near as talented. They don’t succeedThis lazy stylistic theft just makes me long for the straightforward honest and original films of the past. Dahl’s legacy deserves better.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

05/02/25

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Setare M

Now, this is art. This is what makes you wonder what a wonderful mind can do to write a story. Absolute masterpiece of narration, story-telling, acting, ect. It was one of the bests I've ever seen. Totally recommend it. I couldn't take my eyes off it the whole time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/03/25

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Koen H

Oh my, just totally loved this amazing storytelling! Brought brilliantly by some of the worlds best actors

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/25

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Audience Member

Wes Anderson brings the short stories of Roald Dahl to life in a series of four short films (streaming on Netflix). Wes Anderson’s postmodern filmmaking style is a perfect match to Dahl’s quirky stories. First, I recommend watching the other three short films - The Swan, The Rat Catcher, and Poison - first before Henry Sugar. These other three are under 20 minutes each and are a great primer to a longer short film (... paradox?). CONTINUE READING ON LETTERBOXD: https://boxd.it/5QlIQl

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/05/25

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Kevin P

4 unique shorts wonderfully adapted from Rohd Dahl’s literature with Wes Anderson’s direction as a match made in heaven. The dialogue is wonderfully narrated straight from the book while visually shown off like a vividly pretty yet loosely managed stage play. All 4 stories are quite interesting, with Poison being the most tense, The ratcatcher being the most peculiar, The Swam being the saddest, and Henry Sugar being the most whimsical. Each story stands on their own, but together, they all make something wonderful.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/25

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Sydney W

Though very well made, The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar feels more like a book being read out loud to you and not like an actual film.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/25

Full Review

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Wes Anderson

Director

Benedict Cumberbatch

Henry Sugar

Ralph Fiennes

Roald Dahl

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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: A rich man learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes. He sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling. Extremely faithfully adapted from Roald Dahl’s long short story.

Director: Wes Anderson
Producer: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales
Screenwriter: Wes Anderson
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: American Empirical Pictures, Netflix Studios, Netflix
Rating: PG (Smoking)
Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Short
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 20, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 27, 2023
Runtime: 39m

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