37
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 58Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallTampa Bay TimesSteve PersallA nice but unnecessary movie for small children who can find the same level of entertainment on kiddie cable networks.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe film wants to put on screen the sense of random play and concentrated games that fill a child's world for a few summers. In this it succeeds, but the film does not welcome others who might still retain memories of those NOT bummer summers.
- 50Orlando SentinelRoger MooreOrlando SentinelRoger MooreA mild-mannered kids' comedy that makes for a pleasant-enough time killer.
- 42Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe lesson is that fun can't be planned, but the film is so airless (think iCarly as a videogame) that there isn't a truly playful moment in it.
- 40Boxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyBoxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyThis ho-hum offshoot of Megan McDonald's book series earns negative "thrill points" as it chronicles the mirthless backyard shenanigans of a suburban Pippi Longstocking.
- 40Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearThe books' ingenious wunderkind is MIA here, replaced instead by a generic eye-rolling, motormouthed preteen bopping around rote set pieces.
- 40Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzArizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzThe story is a grab bag of only-in-the-movies kid problems and ridiculous adult behavior.
- 30Village VoiceNick SchagerVillage VoiceNick SchagerThe incessant tumult drowns out any real message for the kids - or pleasure for their parents. It's a film so obnoxiously frantic that its most restrained element is a banjo-strumming elementary school teacher played by none other than '90s tween-mugging icon Jaleel "Urkel" White.
- 25Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSlant MagazineEd GonzalezKitsch sprung from the lame imagination of adults who probably wish their tweeners lived their lives like Judy Blume characters.