The reviews are unanimous in the film’s favour, and the praise gathers around the same thing: Boorman’s decision to show the Blitz through a small boy’s eyes, so that the bombing becomes fireworks and the rubble an adventure playground. Most critics call it warm and funny rather than solemn, a comedy of family life with the blood and sacrifice kept to one side. The period streets are found convincing, the young performers are singled out, and Los Angeles Times reads it as a salute to the strength of its women as much as to the boy.
Where critics part is on how much is lost by keeping the horror off screen. Empire finds it an idealised remembrance with twee leanings rather than a historical snapshot, and Variety treats it as a string of sweet anecdotes, best when the boy is at the centre. Radio Times notes an episodic quality. The spread is narrow, though: from admiring to devoted, with nobody dissenting from the affection.