Lizzie McGuire Movie, The

San Francisco Chronicle C.W. Nevius

It works. "Lizzie" is wholesome, smart and sweet.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

Let's face it: Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff) is just too darn polished to be a junior-high underdog, even by the standards of her 'luxe suburban environs.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Doesn't try to be more than what it is: a romantic fantasy caper.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The action is light and lively all the way, poking inventive fun at everything from nosy little brothers to clueless hotel managers and romantic Romans who aren't as glamorous as they claim to be.

Premiere Laine Ewen

Duff is a charming heroine who carries the movie cheerfully, if not gracefully--the pratfalls come early and often.

The New York Times Dave Kehr

The picture unfolds as a light romantic comedy that adults will probably find familiar but tolerable, while their age-appropriate offspring will be transported to new heights of cinematic enchantment.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

By filling in what the story lacks in originality with easy attractions like pretty faces, set to fluffy music, the filmmakers lose the outsider edge the Lizzie McGuire franchise was built on.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Not a single moment of creativity or intrigue is to be found in the big-screen debut of the Disney Channel's most popular sitcom character.

Philadelphia Inquirer Karen Heller

Lizzie McGuire is an old-fashioned, harmless dolce, made all the more charming by Duff's winning appeal.

Miami Herald Christine Dolen

The success of The Lizzie McGuire Movie, in which Duff acts and sings while playing both her beloved character and an Italian look-alike, is probably a slam dunk. That doesn't mean it's a great movie.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

So who am I to carp that the film trades in the amiable realism of the show for just another watered-down pop star fantasy? Heck, it beats the Olsen twins. But not by much.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Disney's big-screen expansion of their hit TV show is nirvana for the pubescent crowd.

Film Threat Kevin Carr

Classic adolescent coming-of-age tale.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

The movie lacks the adult humor of such kid flicks as "Shrek" and "Lilo & Stitch," but the target audience at an advance screening was shrieking with joy throughout.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Just two weeks after successfully targeting boys with "Holes," Disney is giving girls something they want with this mild, quasi-romantic romp.

Chicago Reader Ted Shen

Director Jim Fall smoothly paces the action while staying true to the girlie thrills (luxury hotels, scenic jaunts, a fashion makeover), delivering an empty-headed but enjoyable romp.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

So fluffy and sitcom shallow that it makes "Gidget Goes to Rome" and its other many predecessors in the young-American-girl-goes-to-Italy-and-falls-in-love genre look like high art.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Fans may be disappointed that some of the show's secondary characters, like Lizzie's pal Miranda, are AWOL from this Prince and the Pauper-style escapade, and some of the scenes involving Gellman are disappointingly flat.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Hilary Duff is beautiful and skilled, and I hope she finds something worthwhile to do with her talent before she truly does become the next Britney Spears and has to start worrying about the next Hilary Duff.

Film Threat David Grove

The film is corny, predictable, and manipulative to the point that you feel like there’s electrodes attached from the screen to your brain, but, by the end of this film, I’ll be damned if I didn’t feel genuine affection for it and Lizzie in particular.

Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour

The movie, with all its brashness and crassness, can still claim noble motives in encouraging insecure young people to seek the pop diva buried deep within.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The movie is sure to appeal to fans of the show. But when quality family films, such as "Holes" and "Bend It Like Beckham," are also in theaters, why waste your time on this drivel? The answer, of course, is the kids will insist on it.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Lizzie McGuire's "Movie" doesn't try to be anything more than a superficial escapist fantasy for fans of the show.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

How much adorable can one person take?

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

As it goes with the TV show, so it goes with the movie, which benefits from being shot largely in Rome and suffers from trying to stretch its sitcom antics to feature length.

LA Weekly David Chute

The cast of the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire romped strenuously through a plot that would be old hat as a two-parter on a sitcom.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue

There's not a scrap of imagination in the script.

Washington Post Jane Horwitz

If your kids are too young to sit unsupervised, get together with other parents and pay an older sibling or sitter to go.