Much of its reputation comes from exposing the masses to special effects that had been done much more excitingly, not to mention economically, in experimental shorts. Only where money really counts -- the finicky construction of model spaceships -- does it move into new territory. Kubrick's paranoid spoofs on modern technocracy have never been very sharp -- not then, not before (Dr. Strangelove), and not after (Clockwork Orange). Nonetheless a definite feeling of awe creeps in now and then during this incomprehensible chronicle of mankind from birth to rebirth. (1968) — Duncan Shepherd