reviews collected by review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, the film scored a 73% "Fresh" approval rating, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus is, "Innocent Voices is a passionately told dramatization of an ugly issue of war -- its impact on children." Metacritic, another review aggregator which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 66, based on 24 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave this film 3 out of 4 stars, saying that this film is "Effective without being overwhelming." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave this film 3 and a half stars out of 4, calling it "a deeply moving and powerful film." On the negative side, Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave this film a score of 2.5/4, saying that "it's a harrowing tale, but one that gets phonied up with unnecessary slo-mos, manipulative soundtrack cues, and unrestrained thespianism." Critique One of the biggest critiques of the film was the characters not speaking in Salvadoran accents or Caliche. The people of El Salvador, for the most part speak in voseo, which was non-existent in the film. Awards This film was Mexico's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards, but failed to be shortlisted by the Academy. Three Ariel Awards in 2005 for Best special effects, make-up and supporting actress A Crystal Heart Award as well as the Audience Choice Award for Dramatic Feature at the 2005 Heartland Film Festival. Golden Space Needle award at the Seattle International Film Festival (2005) Stanley Kramer Award of the Producers Guild of America Golden award at Giffoni Film Festival in the Free to Fly category in 2005. Tromsø International Film Festival's audience award in 2006 Best Feature Film and Best Actor Award for Carlos Padilla Lenero - 2005 San Diego International Film Festival References External links 2004 films 2000s war drama films Mexican war drama films 2000s Spanish-language films Films about child soldiers Films about the Salvadoran Civil War Films set in El Salvador Ariel Award winners Films directed by Luis Mandoki Films produced by Lawrence Bender A Band Apart films 2004 drama films