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Where the crawdads sing.

Parents say (26)
Kids say (37)

Based on 37 kid reviews

Good, but SHOCKED at the violence

This title has:

Too much sex

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Educational value
Great messages
Great role models

kept me entertained

Consider teens maturity, great for mature children or anyone over the age of 12, great movie, amazing movie.

Too much violence

Do not recommend!!

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‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ Review: The Bestselling Novel Turned Into a Compelling Wild-Child Tale

Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kya, the venerable Marsh Girl, in a mystery as dark as it is romantic.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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Sometimes a movie will turn softer than you thought it would — more sunny and upbeat and romantic, with a happier ending. Then there’s the kind of movie that turns darker than you expect, with an ominous undertow and an ending that kicks you in the shins. “ Where the Crawdads Sing ” is the rare movie that conforms to both those dynamics at once.

Adapted from Delia Owens ’ debut novel, which has sold 12 million copies since it was published in 2018, the movie is about a young woman whose identity is mired in physical and spiritual harshness. Kya Clark ( Daisy Edgar-Jones ) has grown up all by herself in a shack on a marshy bayou outside Barkley Cove, N.C. When we meet her, it’s 1969 and she’s being put on trial for murder. A young man who Kya was involved with has fallen to his death from a six-story fire tower. Was foul play involved? If so, was Kya the culprit? The local law enforcers don’t seem too interested in evidence. They’ve targeted Kya, who is known by the locals as Marsh Girl. For most of her life, she has been a scary local legend — the scandalous wild child, the wolf girl, the uncivilized outsider. Now, perhaps, she’s become a scapegoat.

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All very dark. Yet with these stark currents in place, “Where the Crawdads Sing” segues into episodes with Kya as a teenager and young woman, and for a while the film seems to turn into a kind of badlands YA reverie. Kya may have a past filled with torment, but on her own she’s free — to do what she likes, to find innovative ways to survive (she digs up mussels at dawn and sells them to the Black proprietors of a local general store, played by Michael Hyatt and Sterling Macer Jr., who become her caretakers in town), and to chart her own destiny.

You’d expect someone known as Marsh Girl to have a few rough edges. Remember Jodie Foster’s feral backwoods ragamuffin in “Nell”? (She, too, was from North Carolina.) Yet Kya, for a wild child, is pretty refined, with thick flowy hair parted in the middle, a wardrobe of billowy rustic dresses, and a way of speaking that makes her sound like she grew up as the daughter of a couple of English teachers. (Unlike just about everyone else in the movie, she lacks even a hint of a drawl.) She does watercolor drawings of the seashells in the marshland, and her gift for making art is singular. She’s like Huck Finn meets Pippi Longstocking by way of Alanis Morissette.

The English actor Daisy Edgar-Jones, who has mostly worked on television (“Normal People,” “War of the Worlds”), has a doleful, earnest-eyed sensuality reminiscent of the quality that Alana Haim brought to “Licorice Pizza.” She gives Kya a quiet surface but makes her wily and vibrantly poised — which isn’t necessarily wrong , but it cuts against (and maybe reveals) our own prejudices, putting the audience in the position of thinking that someone known as Marsh Girl might not come off as quite this self-possessed. Kya meets a local boy, Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith), who has the look of a preppie dreamboat and teaches her, out of the goodness of his heart, to read and write. It looks like the two are falling in love, at least until it’s time for him to go off to college in Raleigh. Despite his protestations of devotion, Kya knows that he’s not coming back.

You could say that “Where the Crawdads Sing” starts out stormy and threatening, then turns romantic and effusive, then turns foreboding again. Yet that wouldn’t express the way the film’s light and dark tones work together. The movie, written by Lucy Alibar (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) and directed by Olivia Newman with a confidence and visual vivacity that carry you along (the lusciously crisp cinematography is by Polly Morgan), turns out to be a myth of resilience. It’s Kya’s story, and in her furtive way she keeps undermining the audience’s perceptions about her.

The scenes of Kya’s murder trial are fascinating, because they’re not staged with the usual courtroom-movie cleverness. Kya is defended by Tim Milton ( David Strathairn ), who knew her as a girl and has come out of retirement to see justice done. In his linen suits, with his Southern-gentleman logic, he demolishes one witness after another, but mostly because there isn’t much of a case against Kya. The fellow she’s accused of killing, Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson), is the one she took up with after Tate abandoned her, and he’s a sketchier shade of preppie player, with a brusque manner that is less than trustworthy. He keeps her separate from his classy friends in town (at one point we learn why), and his scoundrel tendencies just mount from there. Did she have a motive for foul play?

“Where the Crawdads Sing” is at once a mystery, a romance, a back-to-nature reverie full of gnarled trees and hanging moss, and a parable of women’s power and independence in a world crushed under by masculine will. The movie has a lot of elements that will remind you of other films, like “The Man in the Moon,” the 1991 drama starring Reese Witherspoon (who is one of the producers here). But they combine in an original way. The ending is a genuine jaw-dropper, and while I wouldn’t go near revealing it, I’ll just say that this is a movie about fighting back against male intransigence that has the courage of its outsider spirit.

Reviewed at Museum of Modern Art, July 11, 2022. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 125 MIN.

Production: A Sony Pictures Releasing release of a 3000 Pictures production. Producers: Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter. Executive producers: Rhonda Fehr, Betsy Danbury.
Crew: Director: Olivia Newman. Screenplay: Lucy Alibar. Camera: Polly Morgan. Editor: Alan Edward Bell. Music: Mychael Danna.
With: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., David Strathairn, Jayson Warner Smith, Garret Dillahunt, Ahna O’Reilly, Eric Ladin.

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The cicadas buzz and the moss drips and the sunset casts a golden shimmer on the water every single evening. But while “Where the Crawdads Sing” is rich in atmosphere, it’s sorely lacking in actual substance or suspense.

Maybe it was an impossible task, taking the best-selling source material and turning it into a cinematic experience that would please both devotees and newbies alike. Delia Owens ’ novel became a phenomenon in part as a Reese Witherspoon book club selection; Witherspoon is a producer on “Where the Crawdads Sing,” and Taylor Swift wrote and performs the theme song, adding to the expectation surrounding the film’s arrival.

But the result of its pulpy premise is a movie that’s surprisingly inert. Director Olivia Newman , working from a script by Lucy Alibar , jumps back and forth without much momentum between a young woman’s murder trial and the recollections of her rough-and-tumble childhood in 1950s and ‘60s North Carolina. (Alibar also wrote “ Beasts of the Southern Wild ,” which “Where the Crawdads Sing” resembles somewhat as a story of a resourceful little girl’s survival within a squalid, swampy setting.)

It is so loaded with plot that it ends up feeling superficial, rendering major revelations as rushed afterthoughts. For a film about a brave woman who’s grown up in the wild, living by her own rules, “Where the Crawdads Sing” is unusually tepid and restrained. And aside from Daisy Edgar-Jones ’ multi-layered performance as its central figure, the characters never evolve beyond a basic trait or two.

We begin in October 1969 in the marshes of fictional Barkley Cove, North Carolina, where a couple of boys stumble upon a dead body lying in the muck. It turns out to be Chase Andrews, a popular big fish in this insular small pond. And Edgar-Jones’ Kya, with whom he’d once had an unlikely romantic entanglement, becomes the prime suspect. She’s an easy target, having long been ostracized and vilified as The Marsh Girl—or when townsfolk are feeling particularly derisive toward her, That Marsh Girl. Flashbacks reveal the abuse she and her family suffered at the hands of her volatile, alcoholic father ( Garret Dillahunt , harrowing in just a few scenes), and the subsequent abandonment she endured as everyone left her, one by one, to fend for herself—starting with her mother. These vivid, early sections are the most emotionally powerful, with Jojo Regina giving an impressive, demanding performance in her first major film role as eight-year-old Kya.

As she grows into her teens and early 20s and Edgar-Jones takes over, two very different young men shape her formative years. There’s the too-good-to-be-true Tate (Taylor John Smith ), a childhood friend who teaches her to read and write and becomes her first love. (“There was something about that boy that eased the tautness in my chest,” Kya narrates, one of many clunky examples of transferring Owens’ words from page to screen.) And later, there’s the arrogant and bullying Chase ( Harris Dickinson ), who’s obviously bad news from the start, something the reclusive Kya is unable to recognize.

But what she lacks in emotional maturity, she makes up for in curiosity about the natural world around her, and she becomes a gifted artist and autodidact. Edgar-Jones embodies Kya’s raw impulses while also subtly registering her apprehension and mistrust. Pretty much everyone lets her down and underestimates her, except for the kindly Black couple who run the local convenience store and serve as makeshift parents (Sterling Macer Jr. and Michael Hyatt , bringing much-needed warmth, even though there’s not much to their characters). David Strathairn gets the least to work with in one of the film’s most crucial roles as Kya’s attorney: a sympathetic, Atticus Finch type who comes out of retirement to represent her.

This becomes especially obvious in the film’s courtroom scenes, which are universally perfunctory and offer only the blandest cliches and expected dramatic beats. Every time “Where the Crawdads Sing” cuts back to Kya’s murder trial—which happens seemingly out of nowhere, with no discernible rhythm or reason—the pacing drags and you’ll wish you were back in the sun-dappled marshes, investigating its many creatures. ( Polly Morgan provides the pleasing cinematography.)

What actually ends up happening here, though, is such a terrible twist—and it all plays out in such dizzyingly speedy fashion—that it’s unintentionally laughable. You get the sensation that everyone involved felt the need to cram it all in, yet still maintain a manageable running time. If you’ve read the book, you know what happened to Chase Andrews; if you haven’t, I wouldn’t dream of spoiling it here. But I will say I had a variety of far more intriguing conclusions swirling around in my head in the car ride home, and you probably will, too.

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Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some violence including a sexual assault.

125 minutes

Daisy Edgar-Jones as Catherine 'Kya' Clark

Taylor John Smith as Tate Walker

Harris Dickinson as Chase Andrews

Michael Hyatt as Mabel

Sterling MacEr Jr. as Jumpin'

David Strathairn as Tom Milton

Garret Dillahunt as Pa

Eric Ladin as Eric Chastain

Ahna O'Reilly as Ma

Jojo Regina as Young Kya

Olivia Newman

Writer (based upon the novel by)

Delia Owens
Lucy Alibar

Cinematographer

Polly Morgan
Alan Edward Bell
Mychael Danna

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‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ Review: A Wild Heroine, a Soothing Tale

Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as an orphaned girl in the marshes of North Carolina in this tame adaptation of Delia Owens’s popular novel.

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By A.O. Scott

“Where the Crawdads Sing,” Delia Owens’s first novel, is one of the best-selling fiction books in recent years , and if nothing else the new movie version can help you understand why.

Streamlining Owens’s elaborate narrative while remaining faithful to its tone and themes, the director, Olivia Newman, and the screenwriter, Lucy Alibar ( “Beasts of the Southern Wild” ), weave a courtroom drama around a romance that is also a hymn to individual resilience and the wonder of the natural world. Though it celebrates a wild, independent heroine, the film — like the book — is as decorous and soothing as a country-club luncheon.

Set in coastal North Carolina (though filmed in Louisiana), “Where the Crawdads Sing” spends a lot of time in the vast, sun-dappled wetlands its heroine calls home. The disapproving residents of the nearby hamlet of Barkley Cove refer to her as “the marsh girl.” In court, she’s addressed as Catherine Danielle Clark. We know her as Kya.

Played in childhood by Jojo Regina and then by Daisy Edgar-Jones (known for her role in “Normal People” ), Kya is an irresistible if not quite coherent assemblage of familiar literary tropes and traits. Abused and abandoned, she is like the orphan princess in a fairy-tale, stoic in the face of adversity and skilled in the ways of survival. She is brilliant and beautiful, tough and innocent, a natural-born artist and an intuitive naturalist, a scapegoat and something close to a superhero.

That’s a lot. Edgar-Jones has the good sense — or perhaps the brazen audacity — to play Kya as a fairly normal person who finds herself in circumstances that it would be an understatement to describe as improbable. Kya lives most of her life outside of human society, amid the flora and fauna of the marsh, and sometimes she resembles the feral creature the townspeople imagine her to be. Mostly, though, she seems like a skeptical, practical-minded young woman who wants to be left alone, except when she doesn’t.

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'Where the Crawdads Sing' review: Romantic murder mystery loses itself in the plot

A young woman in a blue flowery dress stands with her back against a tree in a swamp.

Beautiful shots of marshland and a solid leading performance by Daisy Edgar-Jones aren't enough to save Where the Crawdads Sing from itself.

Director Olivia Newman's film adaptation of the 2018 novel by Delia Owens bites off more than it can chew, mixing a coming-of-age story with a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and not one, but two, romances. While some of these threads are compelling individually, they never quite come together into a cohesive whole. Instead, Where the Crawdads Sing flits from genre to genre at breakneck speed in a rush to touch on all the plot points in Owens's novel.

Where the Crawdads Sing is faithful to the book, almost to a fault

A young woman and an older man sit behind a table in a courtroom.

Just like in the book, Where the Crawdads Sing juggles multiple timelines to tell the story of its protagonist Kya (Edgar-Jones). Abandoned by her family at a young age, Kya raised herself in the marshes of North Carolina — with a bit of help from sympathetic shop owners Jumpin' (Sterling Macer Jr.) and Mabel (Michael Hyatt). To the people of the nearby town of Barkley Cove, Kya takes on the title of "Marsh Girl." Over time, she becomes the subject of local legend: She's the missing link, she's part wolf, her eyes glow. In reality, Kya is a lonely girl who finds comfort and beauty in the nature around her.

When Barkley Cove's golden boy Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) is found dead in the nearby swamp, it's almost too easy for the townspeople to accuse Kya. Not only is she an outsider but also she was once romantically entangled with Chase. Let the witch — er, Marsh Girl — hunt commence!

Writer Lucy Alibar uses Kya's time in prison and her subsequent trial as a framing device through which Kya's past is explored. From this setting, Kya tells her lawyer Tom Milton (David Strathairn) about her childhood. Later, we learn about her romances with Chase and biology enthusiast Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith). These scenes are intercut with her murder trial, unfurling information on key pieces of evidence.

The flashback conceit quickly wears thin, especially since it's all accompanied by Kya's voice-over as she tells Tom her story. Oftentimes, she narrates exactly what we're seeing on screen. For example, when her abusive father (Garret Dillahunt) burns her departed mother's (Ahna O'Reilly) belongings, Kya helpfully tells us that... her father is burning her mother's belongings. We could definitely tell, but Where the Crawdads Sing frustratingly feels the need to lay almost everything out for us.

The framing device breaks down as we move into the trial and Kya's voice-over is presumably no longer directed at Tom. Instead, she waxes poetic about nature or continues to spell out what we're watching for us. In these moments, it's clear that Kya's voice-over is more a vehicle to incorporate lines of Owens's prose into the movie than it is an effective storytelling device. In this case, adherence to the source material hinders the movie instead of helping it.

Where the Crawdads Sing tries to remain as faithful to the novel as possible, but this results in what can only be described as speed running the plot. We zoom through Kya's childhood and through her learning to fend for herself. We linger for far longer on her two romances while the movie barely touches on other key elements of her adulthood. Even the final trial scenes and last montage pass in the blink of an eye. Yet despite all this, the film feels at times like more of a slog to wade through than Kya's beloved marsh.

Where the Crawdads Sing suffers from bland romance

A young man in a blue button-up shirt hands a feather to a young woman in a pink shirt and overalls.

Part of Where the Crawdads Sing 's strange slowness comes from is its focus on Kya's relationships with Tate and Chase. They are very different people with different motives, and they're both integral to the story. However, the rough arc of their romances with Kya is the same: initial courtship, happy relationship, sudden heartbreak. That these arcs come one after another does little to ease the film's stop-start pace. By the time her second romance begins, it's hard not to get a sense of deja vu. You could switch out kissing scenes between each pairing and I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference, they're so similarly shot and choreographed.

On top of that, neither love story is particularly compelling. The movie grinds to a halt each time Tate or Chase tells Kya that no one knows them as she does, or that she's so different from everyone else. They keep reminding us that she's an outsider. But beyond an early scene where she is humiliated at school, Where the Crawdads Sing steers away from truly digging into how Barkley Cove ostracizes Kya. Moments where Kya confronts her otherness are by far the most interesting in the film and add higher stakes to the trial, but they're few and far between. Instead, Tate and Chase and their saccharine dialogue eat up most of the runtime.

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Highlights of Where the Crawdads Sing include Daisy Edgar-Jones and the marsh itself

A young girl holding a basket stands in the shallow ocean at sunrise, surrounded by marsh grass.

As Kya, Edgar-Jones delivers a performance brimming with shyness and vulnerability that encapsulates the effects of Kya's isolation. It's unfortunate that she spends much of the movie either with Tate and Chase or delivering awkward voice-overs because she's most enthralling when exploring the marsh or looking inward. She stays quiet in the court scenes but is full of so much nervous energy that it's hard to look away from her, even when new evidence draws clichéd gasps from the onlookers. In one of the film's most emotional moments, Kya declares that she never hated the people of Barkley Cove — it was they who hated her. But without much evidence of that, Edgar-Jones's monologue doesn't hit hard, and the scene fizzles.

To its credit, Where the Crawdads Sing is a beautiful-looking film. Shot on location in Louisiana, the movie treats us to stunning vistas of marsh and swamp, with cinematographer Polly Morgan capturing the light of glorious sunrises and sunsets on the water. There's a real sense of place here, with a tactile element that's a refreshing change of pace from green screen-heavy blockbusters.

Die-hard fans of the book might be lured by Edgar-Jones, lovely visuals, and a steadfast commitment to adapting Where the Crawdads Sing as faithfully as possible. However, that doesn't excuse the film's clumsy framing device, bizarre pacing, and underwhelming focus. Let's just say that when it comes to singing crawdads, these ones are a little out of tune.

Where the Crawdads Sing is now in theaters.

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Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness.

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Daisy edgar-jones in ‘where the crawdads sing’: film review.

A young woman raised in the North Carolina marshes becomes the subject of investigation after a grisly murder in this film adaptation of Delia Owens’ best-selling novel.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

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Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) in WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.

Where the Crawdads Sing is the kind of tedious moral fantasy that fuels America’s misguided idealism. It’s an attempt at a complex tale about rejection, difference and survival. But the film, like the novel it’s based on, skirts the issues — of race, gender and class — that would texture its narrative and strengthen its broad thesis, resulting in a story that says more about how whiteness operates in a society allergic to interdependence than it does about how communities fail young people.

Directed by Olivia Newman ( First Match ), the film adaptation of Delia Owens’ popular and controversial novel of the same name tells the remarkable tale of a shy, reclusive girl raised in the marshes of North Carolina who finds herself embroiled in a grisly police investigation. Her name is Kya ( Daisy Edgar-Jones of Normal People , Fresh and Under the Banner of Heaven ), but to those in the neighboring town, whose residents abhor her, she is known simply as “Marsh Girl.” The account of her life is remarkable because it requires such a powerful suspension of disbelief, a complete abandonment of logic and total submission to the workaday beats of this story.

Full credits

Distributor: Sony Pictures Production company: 3000 Pictures Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer, Jr., David Strathairn Director: Olivia Newman Screenwriter: Lucy Alibar Based upon the novel by: Delia Owens Producer: Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter Executive producers: Rhonda Fehr, Betsy Danbury Director of photography: Polly Morgan Production designer: Sue Chan Costume designer: Mirren Gordon-Crozier Editor: Alan Edward Bell Composer: Mychael Danna Casting director: David Rubin

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‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ Review: The Literary Sensation Becomes a Glossy Summer Popcorn Movie

David ehrlich.

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We may never know the full truth behind Delia Owens’ checkered past as a conservationist — which almost certainly seem to include a militant, white savior-minded approach to policing Zambian wildlife preserves, and may also extend to being a “co-conspirator and accessory” to murder — but the secret to the “ Where the Crawdads Sing ” author’s success is now as obvious as her plotting, even to those of us who had never heard of the runaway bestseller until Taylor Swift invented it a few short weeks ago. Olivia Newman’s (“First Match”) slick and glossy beach read of a movie adaptation brings it all right to the surface. Which is just as well, because the surface is the only layer this movie has.

Yes, this is an expertly contrived melodrama about defiance in the face of abandonment, and sure, it’s also a faintly self-exonerating caricature of a natural woman unspoiled by Western society. But underneath the story’s humid romance with Carolina marshland, and behind its Hollywood-ready façade of backwater Americana, “Where the Crawdads Sing” is really just a swampy riff on “Pygmalion,” with Eliza Doolittle reimagined as a semi-feral outsider who’s obviously the hottest girl in town, but lives in almost complete isolation until the Zack Siler of Barkley Cove teachers her how to read and make out.

Streamlined from its source material with the help of a Lucy Aliber script that embraces the frothiness of Owens’ book while turning down the temperature of its florid, nature is my real mama narration, the film version of “Where the Crawdads Sing” is a lot more fun as a hothouse page-turner than it is as a soulful tale of feminine self-sufficiency. That it’s able to split the difference between Nicholas Sparks and “Nell” with any measure of believability is a testament to Daisy Edgar-Jones ’ careful performance as Kya Clark.

The youngest daughter of an abusive drunk, and the only member of her family who stayed in their remote North Carolina house until the day Pa died sometime in the 1950s, Kya’s childhood was spent watching the people who loved her leave one-by-one (she’s played as a child by Jojo Regina). On her own from an early age, and dehumanized into folklore by the “normal” people in town — especially the kids, who label her “Marsh Girl” and laugh her right back to the swamp when she shows up at school without shoes on — Kya is forced to survive by selling mussels to the nice Black couple who run the local store (Sterling Macer, Jr. as Jumpin, and Michael Hyatt as his wife Mabel).

Some years later she’ll be hauled down to the Barkley Cove jail and forced to stand trial for the murder of a pasty cad named Chase Andrews; it’s there, at the behest of the retired lawyer ( David Strathairn !) who takes her case out of the goodness of his heart, that Kya is finally compelled to share her life story for the first time, her voiceover guiding us through the past in snippets of evocatively overwrought prose that establish her connection to nature. “Marsh is a space of light,” she coos, “where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky.” In a real time is a flat circle kind of twist, it often feels like Kya taught herself to write by reading all the other novels that have been canonized by Reese Witherspoon’s book club.

Of course, self-reliant and capable as Kya is, we soon learn that she learned her letters with the help of the square-jawed soft boy who grew up down the creek. The Dawson Leery to Kya’s Joey Potter, Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith) is a kind-hearted soul who lost some family of his own, which might explain why he always remembered the orphaned girl who everyone else in Barkley Cove was eager to forget. In the summer before college, Tate starts leaving Kya supplies on a tree stump — as if he were filling a food trap for a wild animal — only to discover that the Marsh Girl has matured into a movie star. It’s a genuine credit to Newman’s handle on her film’s silly-serious tone that she allows Kya, who doesn’t have electricity or running water, to look like she’s blown all of her mussel money on Pantene Pro-V. Anyway, kissing ensues. Sometimes amid a slow-motion vortex of leaves.

Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith) in Columbia Pictures' WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.

But if Tate thinks the Marsh Girl will always be waiting for him (a girl can only go so far without shoes), he’s in for a rude awakening; once the word gets out that Kya is a total catch, she becomes an irresistible fetish object for the kind of fella who might have less honorable intentions. Enter our corpse-in-waiting, Mr. Chase Andrews. Played by a slithering but somewhat vulnerable Harris Dickinson , who looks so much like Taylor John Smith that his dark-haired character might as well be the blond Tate’s evil twin, Chase loves Kya like a backhanded compliment, and talks down to her even when he’s trying to get her top off. We know he won’t be around for long, but did he fall from that rickety fire tower, or was he pushed? Surely a girl like Kya, so desperate for someone who might not abandon her, wouldn’t kill the one person who hadn’t yet?

That framing device of a question looms in the background of a movie that is far less interested in how Chase dies than it is by how Kya is persecuted for it — by how the Marsh Girl has remained innocent despite a lifetime of prejudice. Shy without being sneaky, naive without seeming childlike, and in tune with nature without going full “raised by wolves” (though the jailhouse cat’s instant affinity for her is a little much), Edgar-Jones’ wide-eyed performance completely sells us on Kya’s reality as a survivor. Her soft voice and defensive posture lend the character a lilting interiority that holds this movie together across multiple timelines.

Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) in Columbia Pictures' WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.

It’s a doubly impressive feat in an adaptation that’s often edited to feel like a two-hour montage, a nagging issue that leaves “Crawdads” a little off-key from its slippery first half to its inelegant coda (though only one early scene of young Kya and Tate yapping at each other from separate boats truly borders on “Bohemian Rhapsody” territory). It’s just a shame the story’s ultra-predictable ending is presented in a way that denies us the full potential of Edgar-Jones’ performance, as Newman opts for hair-raising inference over primal satisfaction.

To that same point, “Where the Crawdads Sing” works best when it embraces its own true nature as a popcorn movie. Newman seems to recognize that “and David Strathairn” are the three most beautiful words that can ever appear in the opening credits of a studio film, and she gives the actor the space he needs to stalk across a sweaty courtroom in a white suit and make us gasp along with the small crowd of people who’ve gathered to witness Kya’s trial. Dickinson textures Chase as well as the script will allow, but delights in the character’s inherent punchability so that the film’s central love triangle never loses it shape. If Jumpin and Mabel still betray the career-long criticism that Owens tends to infantilize her Black characters, Macer and Hyatt ground their roles in a quiet dignity that pushes back against how they may have been written on the page.

As a movie, “Where the Crawdads Sing” never seems worthy of the hullabaloo that continues to surround the book, but — much like its heroine — Newman’s adaptation finds just enough ways to endure.

Sony Pictures will release “Where the Crawdads Sing” in theaters on Friday, July 15.

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Where the Crawdads Sing Eats Itself into Nothingness

In a perfect vacuum, you probably wouldn’t guess that Where the Crawdads Sing is based on a runaway publishing phenomenon, a book that has sold more than 12 million copies in just a few years. One doesn’t have to have loved Delia Owens’s debut novel to see why it has appealed to countless readers. Part murder mystery, part swoony romance, part cornpone coming-of-age tale, it’s an atmospheric and gleefully overheated melodrama, the kind of book that might make you tear up even as you curse its (many, many) shortcomings. The movie is resolutely faithful to the incidents of the novel, but it doesn’t seem particularly interested in standing on its own, in being a movie . It feels like an illustration more than an adaptation.

The story of Kya Clark, a young girl abandoned by her destitute family and forced to survive on her own in a remote corner of the North Carolina wilderness, the film starts off (much like the book) with a murder investigation and then flashes back to her life. The body of a man, Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson), has been found in the woods, and suspicion has settled on Kya (played as an adult by Daisy Edgar-Jones), a loner known to much of the town as “the Marsh Girl.” Taking up the case is a kindly local retired lawyer (played by a much-needed David Strathairn), who believes that Kya has been accused not because of any actual evidence against her, but because she’s been an outcast all her life, ridiculed and hated for years by the townsfolk as some kind of crazy, uncivilized brute.

As we go through Kya’s earlier years, we see a childhood defined by solitude — her mother and her siblings all leave their abusive father one by one, and dad himself (Garret Dillahunt) eventually disappears, leaving Kya alone in the family’s run-down shack on the edge of the marsh. As she grows up, Kya is romanced by a couple of blandly handsome two by fours — nerdy-nice Tate (played by Taylor John Smith as a grown-up) who shares her obsession with nature but then abandons her, and then local rich-boy Chase, who seems fascinated by her but clearly has little interest in a real relationship. We’re supposed to like one and dislike the other, but both Tate and Chase are so underdeveloped that it’s initially hard to feel much of anything for either. They barely register as people. Smith does little but stare lovingly, and Dickinson (who has, to be fair, distinguished himself in previous roles) brings a dash of snotty entitlement to Chase, but not much else.

The best thing about both novel and movie is Kya herself, a submerged character who finds solace and companionship in nature, and who, never having lived anything resembling a normal life around other people, doesn’t quite know what to do with her emotions. As the young Marsh Girl, Jojo Regina is quite moving; your heart goes out to her when a character reads out the local school lunch menu as a way of enticing the impoverished Kya to attend class. It’s a tough balance, to present a child as being both feisty and vulnerable without going overboard into schmaltzy pathos, and the film handles that particular challenge fairly well. As the grown-up Kya, Edgar-Jones is perhaps best at conveying this young woman’s wounded inner life; that speaks to the actress’s talents. However, she never really feels like someone who emerged from this world, but rather one who was dropped into it; that speaks to the clunky filmmaking.

It’s kind of a shock to find the movie version of Crawdads so lacking in atmosphere, as you’d think that’d be the one thing it would nail. Not the least because that lies at the heart of the book’s appeal: Owens spends pages describing the rough, wild, primeval world in which Kya lives, and she convincingly presents the girl as a part of the natural order of this untouched world. At various points, Kya sees herself reflected in the behavior of wild turkeys, snow geese, fireflies, seagulls, and more. She calls herself a seashell and later on finds friendship in Sunday Justice, the jailhouse cat. Where the Crawdads Sing is a book that drips with atmosphere and environmental detail, which enhance our understanding of the protagonist — and help justify some of the story’s more dramatic turns. Owens is herself a retired wildlife biologist who had previously written a number of nature books before turning to fiction. It’s no surprise that her novel works best as an extension of her prior work.

By contrast, the film’s director, Olivia Newman, presents the marsh as a postcard-pretty backdrop, a mostly distant and at times surprisingly calm and orderly space. There’s little sense of wildness, of unpredictability or abandon. Readers will of course often imagine settings differently than film adaptations, but that’s not the problem here. Onscreen, the marsh just never really registers as any kind of place, and it certainly doesn’t register as a spiritual canvas for Kya’s journey. (At times, I wondered if some of the landscape shots might actually have been green-screened in.) Even the fact that Kya has spent much of her life drawing the wildlife of the region – which ultimately plays a huge role in who she becomes – doesn’t come into play until relatively late in the film. None of these would necessarily be problems if the film weren’t otherwise so faithful to the book’s narrative.

This is the challenge of literary condensation. The murder investigation and the ensuing courtroom drama are the least compelling parts of Owens’s novel, there mostly as a loose framing device to tell Kya’s life story. Indeed, she saves the bulk of the trial for the back half of the book, and then breezes by the suspense and the procedural back-and-forth, presumably because she’s not interested in all that. (Spoiler alert: She’s more interested in the twist she springs in her final pages – a twist that also has some eerie echoes of a real-life murder investigation in Zambia that Owens and her ex-husband are reportedly embroiled in, but that’s a whole other crazy story .)

That leaves the movie with a genre-friendly structure, but almost nothing to populate it with. As a result, for much of Where the Crawdads Sing , we’re left watching a not-very interesting and all-but predetermined trial, with little suspense or surprise. We don’t ever really see what the prosecution’s case is against Kya. (If you read the book, you’d have some sense of it, but even there, it’s cursory and half-baked.) It’s a classic Catch-22: The film, to stay true to its wildly popular source material, has to focus on the case, which in turn leaves the picture little room to breathe, to let the audience bask in the atmosphere of this fascinating milieu… which is at least partly why the source material was so wildly popular in the first place. So, forget the crawdads, the turkeys, the fireflies, the seashells, and the snow geese. Forget even the jailhouse cat. The movie is a snake that eats itself.

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Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)

Parents Guide

Certification

Sex & Nudity (2)
Violence & Gore (3)
Profanity (2)
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (4)
Frightening & Intense Scenes (2)
Spoilers (4)

MPAA	Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some violence including a sexual assault.
Certification	(Alberta) (British Columbia) (Quebec) (self-applied) (cinema rating) (certificate #53621)

Sex & Nudity

Moderate 191 of 434 found this moderate Severity? None 52 Mild 127 Moderate 191 Severe 64 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
There are 3 sex scenes. No nudity is explicitly shown, but there are thrusting detail. Edit
A man smoothly removes a woman's dress on a beach. She is seen fully nude with no breast (or other) nudity, due to camera angle. Edit

Violence & Gore

Moderate 81 of 184 found this moderate Severity? None 5 Mild 78 Moderate 81 Severe 20 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
A dead body is shown; nothing particularly graphic. Edit
Domestic violence is shown, a man beats his wife and children. Edit
A man gets angry and slaps a woman. She punches him in the face drawing blood. He punches her to the ground and attempts to rape her. She fights him off, hitting with her fists and a stone, kicking him when he's down then threatens to kill him. Edit
Mild 115 of 163 found this mild Severity? None 19 Mild 115 Moderate 23 Severe 6 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
A few uses of 'shit', 'bastard', 'son of a bitch', 'ass', 'damn' and 'whore' Edit
God's Name is used in vain (god-d***). Edit

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

Mild 106 of 140 found this mild Severity? None 10 Mild 106 Moderate 20 Severe 4 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
Wine is shown to be drunk at a dinner. Edit
One character routinely drinks beer and does so in a celebratory manner. Edit
The father is an alcoholic, drinks and then becomes abusive. In one scene, orders a bottle of liquor from the general store. Edit
The characters when dating consumed alcohol - bottled beers. This was frequently a part of the teenagers having their social outings. Edit

Frightening & Intense Scenes

Moderate 106 of 168 found this moderate Severity? None 3 Mild 36 Moderate 106 Severe 23 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
Attempted rape. Edit
Domestic abuse against women and children. Aftermath is also shown with bruises. Edit

The Parents Guide items below may give away important plot points.

A woman loses her virginity to her boyfriend who gives her little comfort afterwards. We see her pained face on a forceful entry, and she is brought almost to tears. Not a lot of skin is shown (they still have clothes on), but very emotional and possibly traumatic. Edit
Sexual violence. We see Chase attempt and get close to raping Kya. She is flipped over on the beach after being hit and pinned to the sand. She is able to ward off Chase's advances, but it's an aggressive scene. Edit
An older Tate reads Kya's book. In the end of the book he finds the shell necklace that Chase was wearing, implying that she killed him. Edit
Katherines family leaves her so she has to take care of herself. Edit

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Where the Crawdads Sing Parent Guide

The romantic subplots suck up too much time and defuse any tension the story manages to create..

Theaters: Abandoned by her parents, Kya raised herself in the marsh. The townspeople view her with suspicion, so she easily becomes the prime suspect in a murder case.

Release date July 15, 2022

Run Time: 93 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by keith hawkes.

Growing up in the isolated marshes of North Carolina, Catherine “Kya” Clark (Jojo Regina, later Daisy Edgar-Jones) watches as her violent and alcoholic father (Garret Dillahunt) drives her mother, sisters, and brother away to seek better lives. Eventually, even her father leaves, and Kya is left to fend for herself. A resourceful, determined, and bright child, Kya finds ways to make ends meet without the benefit of schooling. But no matter how clever Kya is, trouble is coming. Former star quarterback Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) has been found dead out in the marsh, and suspicion quickly falls on Kya, known in the nearby town as “Marsh Girl” for her remote and independent lifestyle. Her only ally seems to be her attorney, Tom Milton (David Strathairn), as the rest of the town is quite content to convict her and send her off for execution. The trial will force the reclusive Kya into a spotlight, one which will bring her past, her relationships, and her reputation into question.

Easily the best part of this film is the beautiful natural marsh, shot mostly in Louisiana rather than North Carolina. I think this is one of the better ways to see them, as I suspect an in-person visit involves considerably more mosquitos, sunburns, and alligators. Since I’m not sure if I’ve had my malaria shots, I’ll settle for film. A close runner up are the performances from Daisy Edgar-Jones and David Strathairn, who both do their best to keep the film from bogging down – with very limited success.

Ordinarily, I’d say Where the Crawdads Sing is pretty mediocre fare, succeeding neither as a thriller nor a romantic drama while trying to walk a tightrope between the two. Take it or leave it, and enjoy the cool swamp shots. Personally, though, I have some concerns about supporting the author of the novel on which the movie is based. Delia Owens is connected to the filmed murder of an alleged poacher in Zambia, and is in fact still wanted for questioning in that country. The allegations don’t stop there, though, and frankly, Jeffrey Goldberg’s article about her in The Atlantic makes for a far more interesting read than anything this movie has to offer. So before you commit to giving Ms Owens a percentage of your ticket price, take a little time and do some reading. I won’t spoil it for you but let’s just say that a documented homicide is just the tip of a very, very strange iceberg.

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Keith hawkes, watch the trailer for where the crawdads sing.

Where the Crawdads Sing Rating & Content Info

Why is Where the Crawdads Sing rated PG-13? Where the Crawdads Sing is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sexual content and some violence including a sexual assault.

Violence: A man is shown beating his wife and children while drunk. Characters are struck and shoved. A person is hit repeatedly in the head with a rock. A body is shown laying on the ground underneath a watchtower. A character is sexually assaulted. Sexual Content: There are several sex scenes, none of which feature explicit nudity. There is a scene depicting sexual assault. Profanity: There is one use of scatological profanity, and infrequent uses of mild curses and terms of deity. Alcohol / Drug Use: Characters are shown drinking, frequently to excess.

Page last updated January 13, 2024

Where the Crawdads Sing Parents' Guide

Why did Chase die? Do you think this was a good thing? What are the moral complications around his death? Why is Kya so persecuted by others? What kind of social safety nets exist to protect children from circumstances like these?

How do we separate an author from their work? In which cases is it appropriate? Does that change if the author is still benefitting from the profits of that work? How do you make that decision?

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Where the Crawdads Sing

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Watch Where the Crawdads Sing with a subscription on Hulu, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Daisy Edgar-Jones gives it her all, but Where the Crawdads Sing is ultimately unable to distill its source material into a tonally coherent drama.

A particular treat for viewers who love the book, Where the Crawdads Sing offers a faithfully told, well-acted story in a rich, beautifully filmed setting.

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Olivia Newman

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Where The Crawdads Sing Review

A movie that should’ve been uglier..

Where The Crawdads Sing is in theaters on July 15, 2022.

Where The Crawdads Sing is a strange case of a film made marginally more interesting by the circumstances of its creation. Part period romance and part legal drama, this oddly structured literary adaptation has little going for it beyond its lead actress, but a quick glance at its story and at the life of Delia Owens — the author and conservationist who wrote the book of the same name — reveals a potentially unsavory point of view on the crime that sets the plot in motion. However, the filmmakers don’t quite know what to do with this information (which, in the novel, can’t help but read as boastful), so the resulting perspective is lopsided at best, hesitant at worst, and robs the movie of a raw and ugly narrative power.

The broad strokes are as follows: set in the marshlands of North Carolina in the 1960s, the film opens with the police discovering the body of town quarterback Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). Circumstantial evidence points towards recluse Catherine Clark (Daisy Edgar-Jones), nicknamed Kya by her family, but dubbed “Marsh Girl” by unkind townsfolk. Gossip spreads, and retired defendant Tom Milton (David Strathairn) decides to take up the case, but not before he listens to Kya narrate her life story, of which we see every single major detail, from her childhood abandonment, to her blossoming teenage romance with a boy named Tate (Taylor John Smith), to how she and Chase eventually cross paths.

Despite the story being framed as the unraveling of a mystery, the actual details of the case are all hastily shoved into the film’s final few minutes, with bits of information provided just in time for reveals with little impact. Instead, what we’re given is a play-by-play of Kya’s life in ways that rarely hold relevance to the trial, other than vague gesturing towards the way she’s viewed by the fictitious town of Barkley Cove (of which we see very little). There’s little interplay between the two halves of its non-linear structure, and even the portraiture of Kya it manages to paint is rather rote, edited with more care for information than for mood, emotion, or rhythm. While director Olivia Newman and cinematographer Polly Morgan manage to capture the poetry of the marsh, with a sense of wistful nostalgia, their establishing and transitionary shots of nature are about the only things that don’t unfold mechanically. Even the story’s gendered circumstances — of how a potentially wronged Kya might be painted by society, in contrast to a beloved football star — are swiftly brushed over.

If the film has a major on-screen strength, it’s Edgar-Jones’ conception of Kya, as a wounded, lonely artist with an academic passion for flora and fauna. However, her existence as a misunderstood author-self-insert can’t help but summon real-life details past the movie’s fourth wall. Brace yourself. Real-life conservationist Owens is wanted for questioning in a televised 1996 killing in Zambia, of a man flimsily accused of poaching, whose shooting death was broadcast as part of an ABC documentary. It is, for all intents and purposes, a snuff film, and while Owens maintains total non-involvement in the matter, the details of her novel (and now, its big screen adaptation) make for an unsettling companion piece.

What's your favorite mystery movie?

The real-life and fictional deaths have different settings, but what they have in common is a dedicated nature lover thrust into the spotlight under accusations of murder. What makes this all the more unsavory are the conclusions the book and movie eventually come to, but given the latter’s rushed framing of its fictitious case, it spends very little time ruminating on the central premise of a misunderstood girl claiming innocence and fighting for her survival. So, the film ends up avoiding the opportunity to draw on something real, even if that “something” is starkly discomforting.

You’d rather see an objectionable piece of art than a boring one, but alas, Where The Crawdads Sing is overtly the latter, playing out like a meandering, birth-to-death Wikipedia biopic without the excuse of being based on a real person. Its eventual ruminations on resilience and survival are knee-capped by trepidation, since it refuses to get its hands dirty by plunging them into ethical complications. What’s left is only a broad, misplaced, didactic sense of idealism, instead of what ought to have been a much more challenging story — or at the very least, a more offensive one, if only to elicit some kind of emotional response.

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A mechanical period romance sandwiched between a dimensionless legal drama, Where The Crawdads Sing is only accidentally interesting if you know the controversy surrounding its author, Delia Owens. However, as an adaptation of her novel, the movie is too plain and indecisive to make a lasting impact.

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Book-to-movie adaptations can be notoriously difficult to nail. Get things right, and fans of the source material will sing its praises. Get things wrong, though, and the movie will become infamous. In the case of Where the Crawdads Sing , Olivia Newman's adaptation of Delia Owens' best-selling novel, there is a very good chance it will find itself in the former category when it arrives in theaters. The gorgeously-shot movie is incredibly faithful to the book and will no doubt delight those who have eagerly devoured its pages. However, as a movie, Where the Crawdads Sing stumbles a bit in its transition from page to screen, though it is aided by a great lead performance.

Picking up in 1969, the sleepy town of Barkley Cove, North Carolina is shaken by the apparent murder of golden boy Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). There is a shocking lack of evidence found at the crime scene, but rumors have already put a suspect on trial: The famed "Marsh Girl," a Barkley Cove legend who has been the subject of scorn for years. In reality, the Marsh Girl is Kya Clark ( Daisy Edgar-Jones ), a shy girl with a deep passion for nature. Turning back the clock several years, Where the Crawdads Sing digs into Kya's life, her relationship with the surrounding marsh, and whether she might be involved in Chase's untimely demise.

Related: Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris Review: Lesley Manville Shines In Wholesome 1950s Tale

Taylor John Smith and Daisy Edgar-Jones in Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing has been a book club favorite for years now, and as a result, its adaptation has some high expectations attached. Luckily, it is clear from almost the very beginning that Newman and her team have nothing but the utmost respect for the source material. Lucy Alibar has penned a screenplay that is filled with numerous details and lines lifted straight from the book, making this one of the most faithful adaptations in recent memory. To be sure, Where the Crawdads Sing makes some adjustments here and there, but they are relatively small. By filming on location, Newman is able to make the most of actual marshes in the South, and cinematographer Polly Morgan does an excellent job at showcasing these beautiful natural landscapes. In many ways, Where the Crawdads Sing really brings Kya's world to life in vivid fashion, including through the carefully detailed work of production designer Sue Chan.

However, there are places where the movie's devotion to the book causes it to run aground. Literally, in a way, as Where the Crawdads Sing holds some pacing issues. There are key moments in Kya's murder trial that should be filled with tension and suspense; instead, they lack the necessary urgency. On the specific topic of the trial, the movie suffers early on from jarring cuts between the past and the present. These get better as Chase's prominence in the plot increases, but the first portion of Where the Crawdads Sing can't seem to find a suitable balance between Kya's early life and her uneasy future. Additionally, in its attempt to bring as many book moments to life as possible, the movie finds itself grappling with a few awkward moments that, while reading fine on the page, don't exactly translate well to a visual medium.

Daisy Edgar-Jones in Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing 's greatest strength is Edgar-Jones (and Jojo Regina, who plays a younger Kya). Kya is a unique main character and Edgar-Jones does a great job in bringing her to life. Whether it is by expressing delighted wonderment over a gifted feather or retreating in on herself in the face of a potential death sentence, Edgar-Jones plays all sides of Kya with ease. Taylor John Smith takes on the pivotal role of Tate, Kya's first true friend. Armed with a kind smile and earnest disposition, Smith possesses all the charms Tate should have, and his chemistry with Edgar-Jones further sells their bond. As the more complicated Chase, Dickinson does a good job in gradually exposing the kind of man his character really is. Special credit should be given to Michael Hyatt and Sterling Mercer Jr. as Mabel and Jumpin, respectively; though their roles remain as sadly underwritten as they are in the book, they bring real heart to each and every one of their scenes.

Where the Crawdads Sing will surely appease fans of the book, and on some level, its adherence to the source material is to be commended. It is very clear the filmmaking team respects and appreciates the book. However, that passion doesn't entirely hide the cracks that emerge when transferring a story from one medium to another. The production itself and Edgar-Jones do much to bring this world to brilliant life. Ultimately, though, Where the Crawdads Sing is unable to soar like the birds Kya admires so much.

More: Watch The Where The Crawdads Sing Trailer

Where the Crawdads Sing releases in theaters Friday, July 15. It is 125 minutes long and rated PG-13 for sexual content and some violence including a sexual assault.

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing is a dramatic mystery film directed by Olivia Newman (First Match, Chicago Fire) and based on the 2018 novel of the same name, set in the 1950s, the film centers around Catherine "Kya" Clark (Daisy-Edgar Jones), a girl abandoned at an early age who is forced to raise herself in the marshes of North Carolina, adapting entirely to the wilderness. After meeting a young boy named Tate Walker, who teaches her the ways of the world by lending her books and teaching her valuable skills, she can sustain herself. However, as Kya enters her late teen years, a whirlwind romance with a young quarterback somehow puts her on trial for murder. Kya will have to prove her innocence to continue living in a world she only now has begun to understand.

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Where the Crawdads Sing review: A glossy, Instagram-primed buffet of cinematic faux-feminism

Film adaptation of delia owens’ murky bestseller depicts rural south carolina as scrubbed so clean you might as well call it #swampcore, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Olivia Newman. Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer, Jr, David Strathairn. 15, 126 minutes.

Welcome to Hollywood – where even an active murder investigation isn’t enough to halt the adaptation of a best-selling book into a glossy, Instagram-primed buffet of cinematic faux-feminism. Where the Crawdads Sing , having sold more than 12 million copies since its publication in 2018, is the very definition of a literary sensation. It was featured as part of Reese Witherspoon’s book club. The actor now serves as the film’s executive producer.

Usually, you’d applaud that kind of sage entrepreneurship. But Delia Owens, who wrote Where the Crawdads Sing , is currently wanted for questioning by the Zambian authorities over a piece of ABC News footage that appears to show the shooting and killing by persons unknown of an unidentified poacher on a wildlife reserve overseen by Owens and her husband, Mark. And anyone who argues that these are merely irrelevant pieces of biography – unproven accusations that would sit more comfortably in the margins of a gossip magazine – is faced with the odd and uncomfortable reality that so much of Where the Crawdads Sing reads as a moral defence for nature’s laws superseding those set down by man.

“A swamp knows all about death, and doesn’t necessarily define it as tragedy, certainly not a sin,” the book’s prologue reads, along with the opening lines of Olivia Newman’s film. Its protagonist, Kya ( Daisy Edgar-Jones ), is steadfastly presented as someone whose tether to her marshland home, in South Carolina, is a talisman of unblemished authenticity. When the body of a local man, Chase Andrews ( Harris Dickinson ), is discovered out in the wilderness, everyone assumes that Kya, the reclusive “Marsh Girl” who’s been systematically abandoned by her entire family, must be responsible. She’s arrested and immediately thrown in jail.

Kya and Chase had some sort of dalliance, a distraction from the toils of her star-crossed, fairytale romance with childhood sweetheart Tate ( Taylor John Smith , who is just as blandly pleasant as the role requires). And it’s that Nicholas Sparks-adjacent, impassioned but oh-so chaste love story that Newman and screenwriter Lucy Alibar seem most heavily invested in. I’m not at all surprised. Owens does have a certain, swoony turn of phrase – “being completely alone was a feeling so vast it echoed” is especially lovely – and scenes of Kya and Tate making out inside a tornado of leaves, or as a flock of seabirds tear their way up to the sky, are earnestly staged by Newman.

She Will review: A story of feminine vengeance that weaves like an arachnid

Does the fact the film largely ignores the book’s treatise on nature and virtue absolve it of all connections to Owens’s real-life controversies? It certainly doesn’t, on an artistic level, improve what’s already contained on the page. Newman’s vision of rural South Carolina is scrubbed so clean you might as well call it #swampcore – the Spanish moss looks bright and pristine, the flower petals on the water almost consciously arranged. Owens, at least, presented the wild as wild. Kya, too, is a young woman treated as if she were feral by those around her, while simultaneously dressing and grooming herself like an Instagram tradwife. There’s a scene where she walks into town, and everyone reacts in shock – this is the first time they’ve ever seen her in makeup and with her hair combed. She looks exactly the same as she does in every other scene in the film.

Where the Crawdads Sing , in short, treats rural poverty as if it were a desirable aesthetic, the ultimate way to reconnect with nature. That’s a problem not only for the obvious reasons. We hear David Strathairn’s kindly lawyer argue in court that Kya never had “the weakness of character” to murder Chase. It feels like we’re being asked to empathise with her less because she’s a social outcast and more because she’s a skinny, pretty, white girl. Edgar-Jones certainly doesn’t skimp on the doe-eyed naivete – post- Normal People and Fresh , there’s a real danger of her being boxed into these kinds of waif roles. Her marginalisation isn’t treated as much more than not being invited to sit at the cool kids’ lunch table.

It feels particularly farcical in the face of how the film’s sole Black characters are treated – a local couple, Jumpin (Sterling Macer Jr) and Mabel (Michael Hyatt), who own a store and care for the abandoned Kya with saintly generosity. Race, in a film set in Sixties South Carolina, does not factor. The film is rigorously insistent that Kya is the only person in her area code who has ever been persecuted in any way.

Again, if anyone had been paying attention to Owens’ past conservation activities, they might have drawn a connection between how patronisingly stereotyped the Black characters are in her book and past allegations of a racist attitude towards the people of Zambia (an acquaintance, in a New Yorker article published in 2010, characterised her views as “Nice continent. Pity about the Africans”). But, hey, who has time to check up on those things when there’s so much money to be made?

‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ is in cinemas from 22 July

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Where The Crawdads Sing Review

Where The Crawdads Sing

Translating a much-loved novel to the big screen is always a tricky task. With Delia Owens’ Where The Crawdads Sing , which has sold more than 12 million copies to date, the audience is big and the expectations are high. This cinematic version, produced by Reese Witherspoon ’s Hello Sunshine, unfortunately doesn’t succeed in meeting them.

Daisy Edgar-Jones , a star on the rise after her incredible performance in BBC/Hulu series Normal People and playing a gutsy final girl in horror-thriller Fresh , is plunged into a swampy, period environment here. She is Kya, a solitary young woman left to fend for herself after her mother, then siblings, then abusive father, all desert her. Shunned by the townsfolk around her, it doesn’t take long for fingers to point in her direction when a man is found dead near her home.

You never quite buy the young, thin, beautiful, white Kya as a true outsider.

This murder accusation, and the trial deciding Kya’s fate, is the framing device for the film. Ditching the more chronological approach of the book, Lucy Alibar’s screenplay reveals the crime at the very top of the runtime, flashing backwards and forwards to fill in the gaps. This might not be an uncommon way to approach this kind of story, but it does dispel a certain amount of tension from the start — and the loose, feeble attempt at courtroom drama is nowhere near gripping enough to make it a setting we’re keen to return to.

Edgar-Jones’ natural charm, steely determination and convincing, almost-feral disposition, especially early on, keep you on Kya’s side, and Harris Dickinson impresses once again as charmingly sinister former quarterback Chase Andrews. He and Kya’s toxic, sometimes violent relationship adds some edge to this otherwise quite gentle movie — and though their dynamic is contrasted nicely by the safety and warmth Kya feels with all-American shrimper’s son Tate (Taylor John Smith), the latter pairing leaves a lot to be desired in terms of chemistry.

The trouble with this version of Where The Crawdads Sing is that you never quite buy the young, thin, beautiful, white Kya as a true outsider. The girl from the novel, covered in dirt and consumed by gnawing loneliness, is sanded down and smoothed out, her every thought over-explained by incessant voiceover. That treatment seems to have been applied to every other element of the film, too — so much so, it feels like it would be more at home in the BBC’s 8pm Sunday night slot than here on the big screen. The direction and cinematography are thoroughly conventional, lacking in much flavour or wonder, save for some beautiful sunset shots of the marshes, and the score is often saccharine and overbearing. For fans of the book, there will be some satisfaction in watching these characters come to life and the plot’s twists and turns play out — but for newcomers to this story, it is, unfortunately, underwhelming.

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The Real Reason Where The Crawdads Sing Is Rated PG-13

The 2018 best-selling novel "Where the Crawdads Sing" took author Delia Owens over a decade to write, according to an interview with CBS . The novel recently received a film adaptation of the same name directed by Olivia Newman and produced by Reese Witherspoon. The story follows a young girl, Kya Clark (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who grows up in a marsh in the coastal region of North Carolina.

Mostly alone for the majority of her life, Kya is both loved and disliked by the nearby townspeople as her coexistence in nature is a rarity among people. The success of the book and the story of fearless femininity in nature is one that many audiences have taken an interest in. Though the adaptation synopsis may make it seem like a wholesome coming-of-age story, "Where the Crawdads Sing" has actually earned itself a PG-13 rating, meaning that some content in the film may be inappropriate for children under thirteen per Atlas Cinema . Those who haven't read the book before watching the movie may be left wondering why a PG-13 rating is necessary for the film.

Where the Crawdads Sing has depictions of traumatic events

The 2022 film following the story of Kya in "Where the Crawdads Sing," earned itself a PG-13 rating simply by following the storyline of the 2018 novel which inspired it. While there are moments depicting joy, education, and wonder, there are also integral moments that include emotional trauma and violence. These are the reasons the film may be inappropriate for some audiences — such as those who may be too young for the content or those just looking to see a feel-good film. Common Sense Media dives into the film's rating and calls to attention ways that the movie can be discussed after watching by both those who have read the book and those that haven't.

The novel's author, Delia Owens, believes that the movie translated her story and what she was creating in her mind well. In an interview she did with Reese Witherspoon published on the CBS News website, she details her emotions regarding the final product. "They start talking, and my words come out! And it was the most surreal — it was part real, part invented or created, and yet that's what a movie does, you know? It was bringing all these elements together. It was beautiful." With the author's approval of the adaptation, it's safe to say that the movie won't be any less enjoyable for those who haven't read the book.

What Is Common Sense Media's Opinion of 'Where the Crawdads Sing'?

Common Sense Media gives Where the Crawdads Sing a four-star rating and calls it a "richly appointed novel." It states that the book is "a heartbreakingly beautiful story told with grace, insight, and tenderness," and that it "transports readers to another place and time."

In their opinion of the novel they note its themes of family, love, loneliness, justice, forgiveness, self-determination, identity and the power of nature. They are most impressed with its characters who are “complicated but eminently likable.” While noting that there is some unsettling content including murder mystery elements as well as language in places. The review concludes with summary saying that overall this title will fascinate readers as it intertwines both beautiful imagery with good storytelling .

It's certainly clear from this opinion that Common Sense Media believes Where the Crawdads Sing is an excellent read for young adult fiction fans !

How does Common Sense Media rate 'Where the Crawdads Sing'?

Where the Crawdads Sing, the critically acclaimed debut novel by Delia Owens, is a deeply affecting and beautiful story about an isolated girl who navigates her way through life in a rural marshland. Common Sense Media has given Where the Crawdads Sing an age-appropriate rating of 12+, noting that there are some mature themes including tragedy and death that might not be suitable for younger viewers.

This rating reflects the book’s hard-hitting subject matter as well as its memorable characters, powerful prose, and vivid setting. While there are potentially distressing elements to this novel—including abandonment, violence, murder, poverty, child neglect—the overall story is ultimately one of resiliency and hope. Readers will find themselves moved by Owens’ touching portrayal of Kya Clark—the young protagonist whose compassionate strength inspires other characters throughout her journey.

Common Sense Media also recognizes that Where the Crawdads Sing offers important messages about fitting into society and working together to strengthen communities even in challenging circumstances. Older children may benefit from considering how Kya deals with prejudice as she attempts to find connection with others against all odds. Additionally poignant is Kya’s perseverance despite being cut off from traditional sources of support—and her voracious appetite for learning even when most doors remain closed to her knowledge pursuits due to poverty or gender constraints.

Ultimately, Where the Crawdads Sing merits its recommendation from Common Sense Media thanks to its poetic prose and meaningful themes accompanied by explicit content in limited but necessary doses so callers can appreciate Delia Owens’ captivating work.

Does Common Sense Media recommend 'Where the Crawdads Sing'?

Yes, Common Sense Media does recommend "Where the Crawdads Sing," an incredibly gripping novel written by Delia Owens. The book follows Kya, a woman living alone in the marshes of North Carolina and her journey as she navigates life among other residents of town and faces a murder charge.

Common Sense Media gives “Where the Crawdads Sing” a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. The review calls it an "engrossing read " that is "beautifully written." Contributors to Common Sense Media say that the story is wonderfully nuanced with plenty of vivid characters and thought-provoking themes like class differences and loss. It's not recommended for younger readers due to some violent scenes , so make sure to properly evaluate if this book is an appropriate read for your age group before you get started!

Overall this book is highly commended from Common Sense Media as an enriching narrative about human relationships amidst tragedy and will leave readers both entertained and moved. If you are looking for a captivating story that dives deep into complex topics then “Where the Crawdads Sing” should be on your radar!

What do parents and educators think about 'Where the Crawdads Sing'?

Where the Crawdads Sing is hands-down one of the most inspiring and captivating works of fiction in recent years. It’s no surprise that parents and educators alike have taken to the novel—its themes of resilience and overcoming adversity, despite whatever odds are stacked against you, are universally relatable.

At its core, Where The Crawdads Sing is a story about defying expectations. This theme resonates deeply with both parents and educators who share a common desire for their children—or students—to reach their highest potentials regardless of any obstacles that may stand in their way. While Kya’s upbringing is certainly not typical, her journey towards self-sufficiency serves as an empowering example for young readers that anything is possible through hard work and determination.

From an educational perspective, Where The Crawdads Sing celebrates many enduring ideals such as exploration of nature, use of creative expression to understand life’s complexities (think Kya writing poetry), resiliency in tough times (Kya remained determined when others write her off), as well as understanding that everyone has something unique to contribute to this world (Kya’s biological father recognizing her scientific contributions). These aspects make it relevant material for classroom discussions--and also provide ample opportunities to converse on how our own choices can bring positive or negative outcomes down the road.

Ultimately, Where The Crawdads Sing offers both parents and educators a unique look into learning lessons outside traditional education; discovering true strength; utilizing artistic pursuits; facing challenges head on; along with showing tremendous perseverance against overwhelming obstacles . It’s these qualities which make this masterpiece timeless because it provides a timeless message about navigating life : no matter what happens around us or what kind of environment we find ourselves in -we can always choose hope over despair if we are brave enough to try something new!

What type of content does Common Sense Media have for 'Where the Crawdads Sing'?

If you're looking for content related to Delia Owens' New York Times bestseller, Where the Crawdads Sing, then Common Sense Media is the place for you. With an in-depth review of Where the Crawdads Sing, Common Sense Media provides age-specific reviews that offer pros and cons about plot details and themes from a kid’s perspective so you can determine if this book is ideal for your family.

They also provide parents with discussion prompts when reading this book with their kids to help parents better understand how children may be feeling when reading different passages throughout the story and what conversations should take place after reading each chapter. Lastly, Common Sense media offers advice on game and media recommendations that incorporate similar themes as those explored in Where the Crawdads Sing so your children can learn more about survival in nature or friendship stories.

Alan Stokes is an experienced article author, with a variety of published works in both print and online media. He has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and has gained numerous awards for his articles over the years. Alan started his writing career as a freelance writer before joining a larger publishing house.

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COMMENTS

Where the Crawdads Sing Movie Review
Budweiser. Parents need to know that Where the Crawdads Sing is a romantic mystery/drama based on Delia Owens' bestselling 2018 novel. It's set in the coastal marshes of 1950s-'60s North Carolina, where young Kya is dubbed "Marsh Girl" because she lives in near-complete isolation. As a young adult, Kya (Daisy Edgar….
Parent reviews for Where the Crawdads Sing
Ginachristopher Parent of 5, 10 and 13-year-old. September 8, 2022. age 18+. This is an excellent movie for someone over 18, but should be rated R. It includes a fairly graphic rape scene, loosing virginity graphic scene and multiple implied sex scenes. I would never want my 13 year old being exposed to this content.
Kid reviews for Where the Crawdads Sing
The main character is literally raped violently and graphically. It made me sick in my stomach to the point where i didn't want to watch the rest. Even though the horrific act done by the man was horrible, it is used as an important part of the storyline. Other than that the movie was very good, but not recommended for younger viewers.
'Where the Crawdads Sing' Review: A Compelling Wild-Child Tale
"Where the Crawdads Sing" is at once a mystery, a romance, a back-to-nature reverie full of gnarled trees and hanging moss, and a parable of women's power and independence in a world crushed ...
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
Where the Crawdads Sing: Directed by Olivia Newman. With Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, David Strathairn. A woman who raised herself in the marshes of the Deep South becomes a suspect in the murder of a man with whom she was once involved.
Where the Crawdads Sing movie review (2022)
For a film about a brave woman who's grown up in the wild, living by her own rules, "Where the Crawdads Sing" is unusually tepid and restrained. And aside from Daisy Edgar-Jones ' multi-layered performance as its central figure, the characters never evolve beyond a basic trait or two. We begin in October 1969 in the marshes of fictional ...
'Where the Crawdads Sing' Review: A Wild Heroine, a Soothing Tale
July 13, 2022. Where the Crawdads Sing. Directed by Olivia Newman. Drama, Mystery, Thriller. PG-13. 2h 5m. Find Tickets. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our ...
'Where the Crawdads Sing' review: Adaptation of Delia Owens's novel
Just like in the book, Where the Crawdads Sing juggles multiple timelines to tell the story of its protagonist Kya (Edgar-Jones). Abandoned by her family at a young age, Kya raised herself in the ...
Daisy Edgar-Jones in 'Where the Crawdads Sing': Film Review
Release date: Friday, July 15. Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer, Jr., David Strathairn. Director: Olivia Newman. Screenwriter: Lucy ...
Where the Crawdads Sing Review: Bestseller Becomes Glossy Summer Movie
It's just a shame the story's ultra-predictable ending is presented in a way that denies us the full potential of Edgar-Jones' performance, as Newman opts for hair-raising inference over ...
Movie Review: Where the Crawdads Sing
Movie Review: In Where the Crawdads Sing, a film adaptation of Delia Owens's runaway bestseller, a young North Carolina woman who's lived away from society is accused of murder. Daisy Edgar ...
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
A dead body is shown; nothing particularly graphic. Domestic violence is shown, a man beats his wife and children. A man gets angry and slaps a woman. She punches him in the face drawing blood. He punches her to the ground and attempts to rape her. She fights him off, hitting with her fists and a stone, kicking him when he's down then threatens ...
Where the Crawdads Sing Movie Review for Parents
Where the Crawdads Sing is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sexual content and some violence including a sexual assault. Violence: A man is shown beating his wife and children while drunk. Characters are struck and shoved. A person is hit repeatedly in the head with a rock. A body is shown laying on the ground underneath a watchtower.
Where the Crawdads Sing
Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/31/23 Full Review Brandon Richardson For the genre/type of movie, it is, Where the Crawdads Sing is pretty decent. Daisy Edgar-Jones was the ...
Where The Crawdads Sing Review
Where The Crawdads Sing is a strange case of a film made marginally more interesting by the circumstances of its creation. Part period romance and part legal drama, this oddly structured literary ...
Where The Crawdads Sing Review: Gorgeous Visuals Clash With
The gorgeously-shot movie is incredibly faithful to the book and will no doubt delight those who have eagerly devoured its pages. However, as a movie, Where the Crawdads Sing stumbles a bit in its transition from page to screen, though it is aided by a great lead performance. Picking up in 1969, the sleepy town of Barkley Cove, North Carolina ...
Where the Crawdads Sing
Where the Crawdads Sing VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A man yells at his children and charges toward them while playing in a small motorboat: he hits one child in the face, knocks one child into the water and pulls her back out, and a boy charges the man and shoves him to the ground; the man then hits his wife hard across the face knocking her down (we see blood and a bruise on her face).
Where the Crawdads Sing movie review: A glossy, Instagram-primed buffet
Where the Crawdads Sing, having sold more than 12 million copies since its publication in 2018, is the very definition of a literary sensation. It was featured as part of Reese Witherspoon's ...
Where The Crawdads Sing Review
Bauer Consumer Media Ltd, Company number 01176085; Bauer Radio Limited, Company number: 1394141; Registered office: Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA and H ...
'Where The Crawdads Sing' review: A faithful if unfulfilling adaptation
"Where the Crawdads Sing" is set on the North Carolina coast in the 1950s and '60s, threading romance and murder mystery through the life story of a young, isolated woman, Kya, who grows up ...
Where the Crawdads Sing (film)
Where the Crawdads Sing is a 2022 American mystery drama film directed by Olivia Newman from a screenplay by Lucy Alibar, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Delia Owens.The film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., Jojo Regina, Garret Dillahunt, Ahna O'Reilly, and David Strathairn.The story follows an abandoned yet defiant ...
The Real Reason Where The Crawdads Sing Is Rated PG-13
The 2022 film following the story of Kya in "Where the Crawdads Sing," earned itself a PG-13 rating simply by following the storyline of the 2018 novel which inspired it. While there are moments ...
What Is Common Sense Media's Opinion of 'Where the Crawdads Sing'?
Common Sense Media gives "Where the Crawdads Sing" a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. The review calls it an "engrossing read " that is "beautifully written." Contributors to Common Sense Media say that the story is wonderfully nuanced with plenty of vivid characters and thought-provoking themes like class differences and loss.

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Frightening & Intense Scenes

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