Rotten Tomatoes critic scores are not film scores. They are ideology scores. A film gets 90% on Rotten Tomatoes not because it is technically superior or emotionally resonant, but because it affirms the values of the people who write film criticism for a living. That group is not representative of the country.
VirtueVigil does not measure opinion. We measure content. Our Woke-Watch Scoring System tracks specific tropes by severity, authenticity, and narrative centrality. What critics call "vital" and "essential" we call something else. The 10 films below all earned significant critical praise. We scored them anyway. Judge for yourself which analysis is more useful to your family.
#1
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) STRONGLY WOKE
Woke Score: 42Trad Score: 18
Critics loved it. Called it "gleefully subversive" and "a sharp satire of the ultra-wealthy." What they did not say: the entire film is built around contempt for a specific type of wealthy American that maps neatly onto the cultural right. The villain is a thinly veiled Elon Musk character surrounded by sycophants who represent various conservative adjacent archetypes. Rian Johnson was not hiding it. Critics were not troubled by it. VirtueVigil's score was 42 woke vs 18 traditional.
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#2
Strange World (2022) STRONGLY WOKE
Woke Score: 27.5Trad Score: 12.32
Disney's Strange World was praised by critics for its "groundbreaking" inclusion of Disney's first openly gay teen protagonist and its environmental allegory. Audiences disagreed sharply: it bombed to a $73 million worldwide gross against a $180 million budget. VirtueVigil's woke score of 27.5 vs a trad score of 12.32 reflects what critics were celebrating. The gap between critical reception and audience response tells the real story.
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#3
Turning Red (2022) STRONGLY WOKE
Woke Score: 17.85Trad Score: 4.55
Turning Red earned a 95% from critics who celebrated its female-coded coming-of-age story and what one reviewer called "the most honest depiction of puberty in animated film history." VirtueVigil measured something different: a story that frames parental authority as trauma, pushes adolescent self-expression over family obligation, and uses a girl's monstrous transformation as a metaphor for uncontrolled emotional autonomy. Parents watching with their kids will notice the values being modeled.
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#4
Eternals (2021) STRONGLY WOKE
Woke Score: 19.74Trad Score: 5.95
Critics were somewhat split on Eternals but the film itself was uniformly celebrated by progressive outlets for its diverse ensemble, Marvel's first gay superhero kiss, and its philosophical questioning of the MCU's established moral framework. The audience score dropped to 78%. VirtueVigil found a woke score of 19.74 against a trad score of 5.95 -- the largest proportional gap of any MCU film in our database. The cast represents every checkbox. The story has nothing to say.
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#5
The Marvels (2023) STRONGLY WOKE
Woke Score: 22.95Trad Score: 8.87
Even the critics who gave The Marvels mixed reviews framed their criticism around execution rather than ideology. The praise it did receive was heavily centered on its all-female lead trio and what reviewers called a "joyful" female empowerment dynamic. VirtueVigil scored it at 22.95 woke vs 8.87 traditional. It grossed $206 million worldwide against a $220 million budget, the biggest box office failure in MCU history. Audiences found their own answer to what the critics were celebrating.
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#6
Lightyear (2022) WOKE
Woke Score: 10.22Trad Score: 6.65
Pixar restored a same-sex kiss scene after internal pressure and received widespread critical applause for doing so. Lightyear became the film's defining cultural moment before most people had seen it. Critics praised Pixar's courage. Audiences responded with the worst opening weekend for a Pixar theatrical release since the pandemic. The film grossed $226 million worldwide against a $200 million budget, a failure by any measure. The kiss was not the only problem but it was the symbol of who the film was made for.
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#7
Woke Score: 18.42Trad Score: 12.67
Critics gave it 84% and called it "a moving tribute" and "a powerful statement about grief and resistance." What was less discussed: the film's reconstruction of Wakanda as a matriarchal society, the framing of Namor's anti-colonial rage as morally justified, and the consistent sidelining of male authority figures in favor of a female-led power structure. The grief over Boseman is real and deserved. The ideology layered on top of it is not incidental.
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#8
Woke Score: 19.36Trad Score: 11.55
Dune Part Two received near-universal critical acclaim and deserved credit for its technical craft. But the 92% score reflects more than cinematography. Critics celebrated Denis Villeneuve's decision to center Chani's feminist resistance to Paul's messianic rise, his reframing of religious manipulation as a metaphor for right-wing populism, and his departures from Herbert's source material that shifted the moral weight of the story. VirtueVigil scored it 19.36 woke vs 11.55 traditional. Great filmmaking and ideological content are not mutually exclusive.
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#9
Woke Score: 16.44Trad Score: 12.26
Even at 63%, the critics who praised Thor: Love and Thunder focused on Natalie Portman's Mighty Thor as a highlight. What VirtueVigil measured was a franchise installment that replaced an established male hero with a female successor and treated the audience's attachment to the original character as something to be redirected rather than honored. The LGBTQ+ content was added over Taika Waititi's stated preference for more. Critics applauded. Audiences gave it the lowest MCU audience score in years.
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#10
Woke Score: 24.5Trad Score: 22.13
Critics were lukewarm on Joker 2 overall but the reviews that praised it did so for its deconstruction of the original film's "dangerous" incel appeal and its feminist reframing of Harley Quinn as the empowered one pulling Arthur's strings. The film deliberately dismantled what made the first Joker resonate with audiences. VirtueVigil scored it 24.5 woke vs 22.13 traditional. The audience score was 32%. The box office lost $130 million. You can celebrate the deconstruction or you can serve the audience. Hollywood chose deconstruction.
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VirtueVigil does not ask whether a film is good. We ask what it is arguing and how aggressively it argues it. Rotten Tomatoes critic scores tell you whether film critics approved. Our scores tell you what is actually in the film. For any movie you are considering, check the full VirtueVigil analysis at VirtueVigil before deciding whether the critics' recommendation is meant for you.