For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.
On Golden Pond is a mixed blessing, but it offers one performance of rare quality and three others that are very good. That's not half-bad.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
30 Aug 2004
fresh:
Watching the movie, I felt I was witnessing something rare and valuable.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
fresh:
Without question, these are major, meaty roles for Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, and there could have been little doubt that the two would work superbly together.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
4 Feb 2008
fresh:
When it sometimes seems the whole society has spiritually decamped for Tinseltown, the movie offers the hope that people can come home again-at least for a visit.
– Richard Schickel,
TIME Magazine,
7 Jun 2011
fresh:
There is a natural rhythm to the film that makes its own quiet, life-affirming statement.