Entirely mediocre

Rating: Null/10 (19 July 2000)

Could this be the best comic adaptation yet? Perhaps, but only because of the abysmal quality of previous superhero movies. You don't have to do much to exceed Batman (a fat Joker lip-synching Prince songs? C'mon, someone somewhere along the line should have realized that was a bad idea. Of course, the audience ate it up, so I guess I expect too much from Americans), not to mention the Shadow, the Punisher, the Phantom, et al. Superman is the only one that comes to mind that might rival X-Men, and most would probably disagree there.
That said, X-Men is triumphant in it's mediocrity; I didn't hate myself for wasting time and money on it, like I did with the others, and it doesn't totally destroy the legends it presents (see Warren Beatty's ego-trip Dick Tracy if you want to see a legend turned into crap). The jokes, while awful, are mercifully few (and had the geniuses in the theater laughing, so there I go again).
Still, as a fan of the comic and a student of film, I think much better could have been done. Cyclops is not pretty enough to warrant hiring one so utterly devoid of talent. Storm was equally deadpan, and a waste of time. How can you care about someone that boring? Did I mention boring? That word fits Xavier, Rogue and all the villains, as well. Wolverine, while quite capably played by Hugh Jackman, was far too nice (not to mention TALL). The film makers seemed to have realized that they didn't have time to make you like him if he started out as a jerk, so they made him seem like one for all of about 2 minutes, at which point he becomes a big softy.
One of two things could have been done to make this film better; take the time develop the characters better, or take the time to develop a strong plot. Neither was done, and it shows.