Tron

Tron (1982) – It has a distinct, fantastic visual style that, once ground-breaking, has now become vintage; unfortunately, there’s just not enough going on in the story; the film’s attempts to draw parallels between a computer and society are interesting but under-developed. 6

How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) – Yes, the story is formula as can be and the Vikings have, inexplicably, American and Scottish accents, but this is a good looking, well directed film (with quite possibly the best CGI hair to date), and the world is absorbing (and the dragon endearing). 6

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class (2011) – It’s a well done film, excepting some dialogue and the silly flying characters, and it has a nice score, but as the fifth X-Men film, it can’t help but be somewhat been-there-done-that, and it’s predictable even to those with only a cursory X-Men familiarity; it also feels a tad shallow despite its efforts. 6

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) – While it isn’t as overtly dumb as the second one (don’t worry, it’s still dumb), it’s more juvenile: it’s got an incoherent “story,” silly dialogue, a new cheesecake love interest who can’t act, and a cast full of human cartoon characters; the highlights, as always, are the score and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime. 5