The screenplay takes a paint-by-numbers approach, but the director, Julie Taymor... supplies visual exuberance in the spirit of the film’s heroine.

A little better than the run-of-the-mill artist picture, probably because the colorful lives of these figures have an interest that for many people exceeds the interest of their work–or at least enhances it...

Smart, willful, and perverse, this Frida is nobody's servant, and the tiny Hayek plays her with head held high. You may want to laugh now and then, but you won't look away.

Taymors film doesnt shy away from Fridas struggles and her fierce determination to continue despite them. But it also delves into the real spirit of a painter, and the politics that turn the tides of culture.