Blades of Glory Wins Weekend

MaryAnn Johanson,  Apr 02, 2007

Hey, you win some, you lose some. I pretty much despised Blades of Glory, though I suspected it would be a hit with audiences, and here we are on Monday, and the film has earned $33 million over the weekend. *sigh* Worse, I'm in the minority among critics, who've made the movie 69 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Not that I feel any particular pressure to follow the herd -- in fact, I often think criticism, mine or anyone else's, is most valuable when it deviates from the consensus -- but it does astonish me to read things like Ethan Alter in Film Journal International saying:

The filmmakers wisely surrounded themselves with people who know how to wring solid belly laughs out of a paper-thin premise.

(No, they don't know how to do this.)

Or Eleanor Ringel Gillespie in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who believes:

It sounds formulaic, but it's formula done right.

(No, it isn't.)

At least Kevin Carr at 7M Pictures gets it right, terming Blades of Glory:

the film for all the people who loved that Snickers Super Bowl ad and were upset when it was pulled.

Except he thinks that's a good thing. I guess I'm the odd woman out on this one.

But then you win one. Meet the Robinsons, an absolutely delightful sci-fi confection, was the No. 2 movie this weekend, earning a little over $25 million. And my fellow critics like it, too, making it 65 percent Fresh at RT. As Lou Lumenick in the New York Post says:

A delightful, quirk-filled riff on Back to the Future.

(Yes!)

And Scott Weinberg at Cinematical:

A rock-solid piece of animated sci-fi comedy that'll tickle the kids, amuse the parents, and leave everyone walking out of the theater on a sweet little flick-buzz.

(Yes! Yes!)

And Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Simply put, it's terrific.

(Yes! Yes! Yes!)

(Box office numbers via Box Office Mojo.)

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MaryAnn Johanson
author of The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride
minder of FlickFilosopher.com