History Main / CriticalDissonance

* ''LegendOfTheGuardians:TheOwlsOfGaHoole'' got trashed by critics but seems to have done better with audiences.

** May be true of many of the acts made popular in the 1970's. The albums and concerts of {{Queen}}, {{Journey}}, [[Music/{{Wings}} Paul McCartney and Wings]], EltonJohn (at least after he wore outrageous costumes), and a lot of the arena rock and ProgressiveRock supergroups had poor (or grudgingly favorable) reviews, but sold millions. May have connections to [[ItsPopularNowItSucks professional jealousy]], [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks changes in style]], [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks burnout]], [[TotallyRadical hang-ups with keeping up with the next big thing]] (punk, bar bands, synth-pop, new wave, indie rock) or perhaps it needed to be VindicatedByHistory. Granted, some records may have simply been [[{{Filler}} substandard]], but often the bad reviews came [[CausticCritic regardless of the quality of their work]].

* ''film/TheThing'' retroactively is this. It counts due to the fact people like it now, but most mainstream critics hasn't changed their negative opinions about it, unlike say ''BladeRunner''.

** There are exceptions to this, but the genres have to be toned down. For instance, critics are a little bit more accepting of LowFantasy to HighFantasy, Psychological/Supernatural Thrillers to pure Horror, and Hard Sci-fi to Pulp Sci-Fi. To be fair, this also goes for the viewing public as well.

* ''HocusPocus'' was trashed by critics, but did okay at the box office.

** When people say "tone" it basically boils down to the film turning out to be a genuine horror film instead of a FauxHorrorFilm, MaybeMagicMaybeMundane, or DoingInTheWizard.

* ''TheLastExorcism'' was well-received by mainstream critics, who gave it a 69% "Fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes. Moviegoers and horror fans, on the other hand, generally skewered it. It got laughed off at the Fantasia Film Festival -- not a good omen for an indie horror flick that was hoping to run on strong word-of-mouth (like how ''ParanormalActivity'' did the prior year) -- and received only a 41% "Rotten" rating from the RT community. This trope was, however, partially subverted by the fact that people generally agreed that ''the first nine-tenths of the movie'' was good -- most of the criticism came from [[GainaxEnding the ending]], which came out of nowhere and completely changed the tone of the movie, and reportedly had entire theaters yelling in anger.

* This happens with the [[UnpleasableFanbase Unpleasable]] FanDumb of just about ''every'' ''ElderScrolls'' game that gets released. Expect to hear any game beyond ''Arena'' get called "The worst in the series" despite how many positive reviews and awards the games receive.

* The Wesley Snipes Crime Drama film ''Sugar Hill'' (not to be confused with the blaxploitation/zombie film of the same name) is considered a urban cult classic. Critics were less enthused by the film, while lone critic RogerEbert said it's [[strike:one of]] ''the'' best film of 1994.

** May be true of many of the acts made popular in the 1970's. The albums and concerts of {[Queen}}, {{Journey}}, [[Music/{{Wings}} Paul McCartney and Wings]], EltonJohn (at least after he wore outrageous costumes), and a lot of the arena rock and ProgressiveRock supergroups had poor (or grudgingly favorable) reviews, but sold millions. May have connections to [[ItsPopularNowItSucks professional jealousy]], [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks changes in style]], [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks burnout]], [[TotallyRadical hang-ups with keeping up with the next big thing]] (punk, bar bands, synth-pop, new wave, indie rock) or perhaps it needed to be VindicatedByHistory. Granted, some records may have simply been [[{{Filler}} substandard]], but often the bad reviews came [[CausticCritic regardless of the quality of their work]].

* ''BoondockSaints''. And how!

* The ''StarWars'' prequels. All three were big financial successes, popular among younger audiences and casual moviegoers for their flashy special effects and big fight scenes, and hated with a huge, violent passion by most older or less casual ''Star Wars'' fans.

* In an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of typical CriticalDissonance, it was the critics who enjoyed ''IndianaJones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' and the fans who hated it.

* Almost every VH1 ''You Oughta Know'' and MTV ''BUZZ'' artistS counts. Critics gush over these artists (usually for good reasons), [[HypeAversion but the general public seems to be indifferent]].

** In fact ''NONE'' of the MTV'S ''BUZZ'' artists panned out. With the few exceptions of {{Garbage}}, the ''FooFighters'', and to a lesser extent {{Beck}}.

** May be true of many of the acts made popular in the 1970's. The albums and concerts of Queen, Journey, [[TheBeatles Paul McCartney and Wings]], EltonJohn (at least after he wore outrageous costumes), and a lot of the arena rock and ProgressiveRock supergroups had poor (or grudgingly favorable) reviews, but sold millions. May have connections to [[ItsPopularNowItSucks professional jealousy]], [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks changes in style]], [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks burnout]], [[TotallyRadical hang-ups with keeping up with the next big thing]] (punk, bar bands, synth-pop, new wave, indie rock) or perhaps it needed to be VindicatedByHistory. Granted, some records may have simply been [[{{Filler}} substandard]], but often the bad reviews came [[CausticCritic regardless of the quality of their work]].

* NineInchNails's album The Fragile was rated very high by critics (it was Rolling Stones album of the year when it came out for example) but didn't sell all that well. Considering the band's later success VindicatedByHistory comes into play.

* A LOT of Nintendo {{Wii}} games... the dissonance goes both ways. This can likely be explained (in a few cases) by the critic falling outside the TargetDemographic.

* The works of TimSchafer suffer from this big time. The most obvious example is {{Psychonauts}}, which has received rave reviews and is one of the worst performing games of the last gaming generation. Schafer's most succesful game, Brutal Legend, still underperformed, though it was not as well liked by Critics either.

* ''TheLastExorcism'' was well-received by mainstream critics, who gave it a 69% "Fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes. Moviegoers and horror fans, on the other hand, generally skewered it. It got laughed off at the Fantasia Film Festival -- not a good omen for an indie horror flick that was hoping to run on strong word-of-mouth (like how ''ParanormalActivity'' did the prior year) -- and received only a 41% "Rotten" rating from the RT community. Much of the criticism came from [[GainaxEnding its ending]], which came out of nowhere and completely changed the tone of the movie, and reportedly had entire theaters yelling in anger.

* ''TheLastExorcism'' was well-received by mainstream critics, who gave it a 69% "Fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes. Moviegoers and horror fans, on the other hand, generally skewered it. It got laughed off at the Fantasia Film Festival -- not a good omen for an indie horror flick that was hoping to run on strong word-of-mouth (like how ''ParanormalActivity'' did the prior year) -- and received only a 41% "Rotten" rating from the RT community. Much of the criticism came from [[GainaxEnding its ending]], which came out of nowhere and completely changed the tone of the movie from a psychodrama to a [[FollowTheLeader ripoff]] of [[spoiler:''[=~Rosemary's Baby~=]'']], and reportedly had entire theaters yelling in anger.

* ''TheLastExorcism'' was well-received by mainstream critics, who gave it a 69% "Fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes. Moviegoers and horror fans, on the other hand, generally skewered it. It got laughed off at the Fantasia Film Festival -- not a good omen for an indie horror flick that was hoping to run on strong word-of-mouth (like how ''ParanormalActivity'' did the prior year) -- and received only a 41% "Rotten" rating from the RT community. Much of the criticism came from [[GainaxEnding its ending]], which came out of nowhere and completely changed the tone of the movie from a psychodrama to a [[spoiler:''[=~Rosemary's Baby~=]'']] [[FollowTheLeader ripoff]], and reportedly had entire theaters yelling in anger.

* ''TheLastExorcism'' was well-received by mainstream critics, who gave it a 69% "Fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes. Moviegoers and horror fans, on the other hand, generally skewered it. It got laughed off at the Fantasia Film Festival -- not a good omen for an indie horror flick that was hoping to run on strong word-of-mouth (like how ''ParanormalActivity'' did the prior year) -- and received only a 41% "Rotten" rating from the RT community. Much of the criticism came from [[GainaxEnding its ending]], which came out of nowhere and completely changed the tone of the movie, and reportedly had entire theaters yelling in anger.

* ''TheLastExorcism'' was well-received by mainstream critics, who gave it a 69% "Fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes. Moviegoers and horror fans, on the other hand, generally skewered it. It got laughed off at the Fantasia Film Festival -- not a good omen for an indie horror flick that was hoping to run on strong word-of-mouth (like how ''ParanormalActivity'' did the prior year) -- and received only a 41% "Rotten" rating from the RT community. Much of the criticism came from [[GainaxEnding its ending]], which completely changed the tone of the movie and reportedly had entire theaters yelling in anger.

* Like ''Revenge Of The Fallen'', ''[[JamesBond Quantum Of Solace]]'' was pretty much panned by bond fans and critics. Otherwise it was a huge blockbuster.

***Interestingly enough the first film in the franchise actually got far better reviews on average from both critics and the core fanbase. (Whatever they liked about that film clearly wasn't in, or built upon in, the second.). Likely due to complaints about not having enough character development for the transformers, and waaay too much human screen time.

* John Carpenter's ''TheThing'' when it first came out. It's considered a classic now, though.
* ''BladeRunner'', at least at release.

** ''SonicChronicles'' got some [[EightPointEight pretty notorious]] reviews as well. Between this and the fanbase's... uh... [[{{Understatement}} problems]], it's said that ''SonicTheHedgehog4'' will ''never'' get a fair review from ''anyone''.