It's bad.

Rating: 3/10 (3 May 2003)

It's bad.
Certainly the characters are entertaining, the special effects are outstanding, and the plot hangs together, but the movie is poorly done. I liken it to watching a film produced for children with ADHD: everything's repeated and explained, constantly, just in case you missed it or forgot what was said earlier.
SPOILER WARNING
For example, how many times do we need to be told that Xavier is deadly when connected to Cerebro? This film seems to think we need to be told no fewer than three times. How many times do we need to be reminded that Nightcrawler is from a German circus? I realize it's done for comic effect, but in a movie plagued with repetition, it grates against one's nerves.
In many instances, characters explain away plot elements that need no explanation. Consider Jean and Storm tracking down Nightcrawler. Already it has been established that Xavier has issues tracking him. They remind us of this (since we can't possibly have remembered that Xavier's just explained this himself), then when they find him Jean suddenly has to tell us, `He's a teleporter. That must be why the Professor had trouble tracking him.' Well.duh.
The movie simply seems to have a big problem with its audience awareness. Yes, some people who see this movie may need a few hints in a few places. But come on, do we really need Magneto to tell us about his helmet (via a conversation with Pyro), illustrate its defenses against mental powers through his resistance to Xavier's Cerebro attack, THEN point to his helmet while in the reconstructed Cerebro room as if to say to us, `Look at me, I'm wearing my helmet; you might recall it protects me.' I think we don't.
The movie also lacks any kind of emotional impact. Even at the one point in the film I almost had an emotional connection (Jean's sacrifice), the movie had undercut any possible feeling by neglecting to develop Jean's relationships with any of the characters (beyond her cold shoulder with Wolverine). By then also giving the final monologue to her voice (with the accompanying BLATANTLY OBVIOUS FORESHADOWING - they could have just flashed up a sign and been done with it, it was so poorly done), they cut out any kind of emotional effect her death could have had. A much better choice would have been the voice of Cyclops for that last scene. I might have cared then.
That said, I loved the special effects. See it on the big screen b/c it will be totally pointless on a small screen, or save yourself some money and wait on the upcoming Phoenix movie.