Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Review Roundup: Critics Barely Find Anything Super About the Supernatural Flick

See what folks are saying about the highly anticipated movie

By Peter Gicas Aug 22, 2013 8:25 PMTags
Mortal Instruments: City of BonesSony Pictures/Constantin Film International GmbH and Unique Features (TMI) Inc.

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has finally made its way into theaters.

The highly anticipated first flick from the six-book saga by Cassandra Clare and starring Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower and Kevin Zegers follows Clary (Collins), a New York City girl who enters another world to try and rescue her mother from evil with the help of her new friends, the shadowhunters.

Well, the critics have weighed in and here's what they have to say...

• "A ludicrous, borderline-nonsensical supernatural concoction with a slightly redeeming sense of its own silliness," writes Justin Chang of Variety.

• "The action flick is overly long, complicated and, even by teen romance standards, cringe-worthy in its cheesiness," notes The Washington Post's Stephanie Merry.

• "Though it has flashes of promise, Bones traces the footsteps of its fantasy film predecessors too closely to blaze anything close to an original narrative," states Scott Bowles of USA Today.

• "References to Star Wars and the Harry Potter and Twilight universes pose less of a problem than the increasingly messy action scenes and an overabundance of main characters, more than enough to fuel several franchises," offers Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times.

Sony Pictures/Constantin Film International GmbH and Unique Features (TMI) Inc.

• "The fact that there is already at least one sequel planned feels more like a threat than a treat," writes Mark of Olsen of the Los Angeles Times.

• "[The filmmakers] throw in everything from witches and vampires and demons to gay warlocks, mini-skirted monster hunters and werewolf bikers, but this silly epic never goes anywhere remotely interesting," The Wrap's Alonso Duralde remarks.

• "Everything chugs along brsikly and reasonably entertainingly until running off the rails a bit with a wildly overcomplicated finale," Bruce Ingram of the Chicago Sun-Times points out.

• "Alas, the titular City of Bones is more of a basement," opined New York Daily News' Jordan Hoffman.