Chitty Chitty Bang Bang contains about the best two-hour children's movie you could hope for, with a marvelous magical auto and lots of adventure and a nutty old grandpa and a mean Baron and some funny dances and a couple of [scary] moments.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
fresh:
A fast, dense, friendly children's musical, with something of the joys of singing together on a team bus on the way to a game.
– Renata Adler,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
rotten:
Ken Adam's sets are inventive, but the special effects are shoddy, the songs instantly forgettable, and the leisurely length an exquisite torture.