The Many Saints of Newark explores the early life of mobster Tony Soprano, played in the show by James Gandolfini.
Gandolfini's real-life son Michael plays the young Tony, and one reviewer said it is a "wonderful" performance.
In the opinion of another, however, Alan Taylor's film "provides little in the way of fresh illumination".
Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, critic David Rooney also said he felt the young Tony "remains a bystander in his own origin story".
