:I think when surveys of critical reception all agree that a film has reviewed well or poorly then there is no harm in saying that, because a lot of readers will expect to find a nutshell summary of the critical reception. The problem is when these surveys come to different conclusions, with some finding the reception mixed or positive, or even describing it as lukewarm. In the case of The Hobbit we have something of a split decision: most surveys are saying the reception was either mixed or reserved in its praise, but to say the reception is "mixed to positive" is WP:SYNTHESIS, because these surveys themselves aren't actually saying that. I think in cases like this we should perhaps emphasize the incongruity, and introduce the section with something along the lines of "Critical opinion has been split on An Unexpected Journey. A, B, C consider the critical opinion to be mixed, while D, E, F regard it has lukewarm or generally positive". Our jobs as editors are to summarize, not to draw to conclusions.