With Billy Crystal back on board and a (relatively) brisk running time of just over three hours, the third Academy Awards show produced under Tom Sherak's tenure as AMPAS president was certainly the best-received of the three.
But while it avoided the critical brickbats leveled at last year's Anne Hathaway/James Franco mismatch, or to a lesser degree 2010's awkward Steve Martin/Alec Baldwin teaming, the show did strike some as too determined a return to old-fashioned, Oscar-style comfort food.
"[The show] played it safe by rolling out the same old tributes to old movies, which only created the impression that Hollywood's best days are behind it," wrote Tim Molloy at TheWrap.