The film has been criticised for its pretty blatant sentimentality and far from subtle attempts to manipulate the emotions of its audience. Yet, steeped in sentimentality as it is, the film has a genuine capacity to engage the spectator and it is surprisingly easy to relate one's own nostalgic experiences to those which are presented in the film.
Nuovo cinema Paradiso is a film of two halves, the first being concerned mainly with a young boy's discovery of the immense beauty of cinema. This part of the film is certainly the most charming and entertaining, the alluring photography and endearing performances from Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio capturing vividly the magic of cinema whilst reminding us of our own first experiences with cinema. The second half, telling an anodyne tale of unrequited love between the young projectionist and a banker's daughter, is naïve in its simplicity but it is filmed so beautifully, so eloquently that you can help but be enchanted by it.
The first release of the film in America and the United Kingdom suffered from a fifty minute cut, which robbed the film of its resolution and, consequently, made the film appear slightly weak and insubstantial. The film has since been re-released in its original Italian cut, with the missing third of the film reinstated. This addition makes the final sequence of the film, where a nostalgic Jacques Perrin watches an astonishing montage of censored film kisses, all the more poignant. In its restored form, it is clearer that Nuovo cinema Paradiso is not so much a homage to cinema, but rather a touching visual poem on the spiritual, almost religious, relationship between cinema and a keen cinema enthusiast.