Life Itself is an emotional mugging, not a movie.

The most horrifying film of 2007, Bratz is based on the popular line of collagen-lipped, doe-eyed slut-ette dolls and their male companions, "the boys with a passion for fashion ... and the Bratz!" (In other words, they're bi-curious.)

A bloody mess...The effects are nothing you haven't seen before; the acting is so broad, it borders on the ridiculous; and the story, once intriguing, has become ludicrous. [11 March 1996, p.C3]

A mind-numbing, bloody, ridiculous experience.

Has to explain itself through so much of the film that there's just not much film left.

Tries mightily to give these warmed-over cliches the proper seasoning, but in the end, these leftovers fail to satisfy. [12 March 1999, Friday, p.L]

As if by deliberate and vaguely sadistic design, Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil leeches the fun clean out of the first "Hoodwinked" (2005).

This one's a certifiable soul-sucker, dining out on its characters' venalities while wagging a finger at the horror, the horror.

Even with a new leading man and a more family-friendly rating, some things never change: The Mask still stars Industrial Light & Magic.

The Last Airbender (they couldn't use the series' "Avatar" title because another film got there first, without all the bending) is more about marshaling extras and interpolating tons of computer-generated effects and keeping the factions straight. It's a tough sit.

For all its promise of lively trailer-park humor, Joe Dirt digs, then lies in its own grave, killed by blah characters, lame jokes and cliches you can see coming a mile away.

So derivative and crass that it's far more entertaining to try to think of the dozens of films it's ripping off than it is to take any of it at face value.

The coarse material, from a screenplay by Seth Winston and Michael J. Nathanson, is roughed up even more by Dragoti's abrasive exaggeration, both of performance (there's a terrifying sequence in which Hicks finally gets her long dreamed-of engagement ring and goes into a frenzy of triumph and delight) and of visual style (visits to the office of sinister shrink Wallace Shawn are filmed in weird expressionist off-angles). [14 Apr 1989, p.D]

The actors had little to work with in this passe social satire, but sharper performances might have saved Marci from total humorless ruin.

One of those frustrating movies that takes forever to get where it's going, and once arriving, the frustration is increased because one realizes how much better it should have been.

Worth your time and money? Fuhgeddaboutit.

A study in formula film making and a lousy movie. [03 Sep 1985, p.5C]

Although a literal movie adaptation of Seuss' 1957 classic "The Cat in the Hat" might have run 20 minutes, is it too much to ask that the filmed material preserve the author's sensibility?

Children's films can be thrilling affairs for parents and kids. Unfortunately, this film is not likely to thrill either group.