Richard Eder panned the film in "The New York Times", quoting Ballard's line from the movie, "This is about as exciting as a visit to the water works." Coining his own variation on the phrase, Eder also claimed the film is "as much fun as running barefoot on Astroturf." He added, "It is all the most ordinary kind of hardware science fiction, full of computers and empty of thought." Writing that Danner and Fonda have "absolutely nothing to do" in the film, he concluded that "starring in "Futureworld" must be the actor's equivalent of going on welfare." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film two stars out of four and criticized the "dumb story," although he did think it had "some of the best gadgets since the early James Bond pictures ... Too bad 'Futureworld' didn't dream up more of these gizmos."