"When I saw Torrey Pines in Seattle at the packed Egyptian theater, the experience was one of the most special and memorable I’ve had in a movie house. I left the show giddy and overjoyed at being reminded of how truly magical, pure and touching cinema can be. The soundtrack was performed live by an eclectic band of musicians and foley artists. Petersen is taking the film and a smaller version of a band on the road, so you will have an opportunity to view this gem the way it was meant to be seen – larger than life and accompanied by a live score!"

— "Animated Transgender Odyssey “Torrey Pines” Is The Year’s Best Film!" by Wes Hurley

"What has always fascinated and impressed me about Clyde is the sheer depth and breadth of his artistic curiosity and skill set. Music was my first entry into his very particular and singular world, but it just as easily could’ve been via the zines he wrote, the short films he made, the posters he designed or one of any number of artistic endeavors he’s undertaken over the years. He is, above all, intimidatingly prolific, cranking out a staggering number of albums and films both short and feature-length, crafting art installations—the list goes on. "

— "Torrey Pines: A stop-motion labor of love" by Carey Ross

"Unlike most films, Torrey Pines is nearly wordless. Instead, the characters speak in mumbled gibberish, relying on vocal inflection or the occasional image—tigers pouncing out of mouths or lasers shooting from eyes, for example—to convey expression. The garbled voices of adults are not unlike those in “Peanuts” cartoons, and can be pretty effective at humorously lightening the mood. The film approaches several topics of universal relevance, and the absence of language echoes this theme of inclusivity. "

— "Torrey Pines is a Cross-Country, Stop Motion Adventure" by Jessica Smith

"I’ve never seen the horror of being misgendered captured on film so evocatively as in Torrey Pines—particularly a scene wherein, having witnessed his mom get out of the bathtub, Petersen imagines his 12-year-old body as an adult woman’s, with pendulous tits that spray milk grotesquely as he is buried in a pile of squirming babies. The awkwardness, the wrongness of the gender assigned him could make the straightest viewer barf."

— "Courage in Motion" by Sarah Galvin

"Watching director Clyde Petersen’s animated feature, Torrey Pines, is like taking a long, satisfying and meandering stroll through the outskirts of a city. You have no idea where you are or where you’re going. Instead, you’re drenched in sea and landscapes enveloping you. You are there yet not. It’s this calm, disconnected vibe that flows throughout this meditative cut-out animation film about a schizophrenic mother who kidnaps her preteen daughter (who is experiencing her own seismic shifts in emotional, mental and physical identity) and takes her across the U.S. landscape."

— "Passing Us By: Clyde Petersen Talks ‘Torrey Pines’ " by Chris Robinson

"Torrey Pines is a masterful use of incredibly simple and friendly materials (which is politically important), paper cutouts and Post-Its, symbols and icons, a visual shorthand that becomes open but never, never loses its distinctive self."

— "Torrey Pines Is a Handmade Film That Will Make You Feel Wholeheartedly Awesome" by Jen Graves

"Indeed Torrey Pines is not a tragic, sad film. Executed with a healthy heap of wit and psychedelia (Petersen’s vivid childhood imagination and his mother’s schizophrenic visions manifest side by side throughout), it’s actually a deftly crafted entry in the small cinematic lineage of “ambient” films. "

— "Clyde Petersen’s ‘Torrey Pines’ Is a Fascinating Work of Ambient Animation" by Kelton Sears