Metacritic reviews

The appeal of Yu-Gi-Oh! for kids who play the card game shouldn't be too much of a mystery -- at least to any adult who admits to tuning in to celebrity poker on TV.

Shallow and repetitive.

Too solemnly boring to entertain parents or older siblings - but, alas, too loud for a long nap - Yu-Gi-Oh! is basically a feature-length promotion for the trading cards.

No cuddly, funky "Pokemon" pocket monsters populate this pic; this game is for the big kids, rife with a ruthless tone, heightened violence and cold calculation. However, fans will put up with a dull tale to finally see their obsession on the bigscreen.

With its lifeless animation, characterless characters, and plotless plot, Yu-Gi-Oh! is so flat as to make the card game on which it is based seem positively three-dimensional.

No doubt its small fans are thrilled, but even young kids will have to be pretty undemanding to enjoy this mess.

If your child forces you to go to Yu-Gi-Oh!, remember that there's no law against iPods in movie theaters.

There's nothing inspiring about Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie, unless you count the way it compels kids to continue to support the "Yu-Gi-Oh" franchise.

The character designs are flat and derivative, the backgrounds crude and uninviting, and the movements jerky and minimal. It's a sad excuse for a movie, but then, it isn't really meant to be one. It's a commercial with a ticket price.

Has the crass look and feel of a 90-minute infomercial.