Most critics land on mixed, and the agreement is almost entirely about one man. Walter Matthau’s Mr Wilson is the performance the reviews return to: the crotchety neighbour makes Dennis’s scenes work and is, for some, the only real pleasure for an adult in the audience. Beyond him, the praise is faint. The film is called agreeably low-key, a change from the more frenetic children’s comedies of its day, and Mason Gamble’s Dennis is found endearing by some and only just adequate by others.
The reservations gather around the plot, which is called thin, and the jokes, which several find scarce. Empire is the most forgiving, finding it entertaining regardless; Variety is the outlier at the bottom, judging it safe, largely unfunny and suited mainly to the youngest children. The spread is otherwise narrow, with the reviews clustering in the middle, and one or two of the older notices say too little to place with any confidence.