Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is a 2016 film based on James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts' best selling series with the same name.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The movie's not all that faithful to the book, as it changes elements to it that winds up making it a cliché film where a trouble-making kid takes on a corrupted authority figure.
 * 2) Most of the plot revolving around Principal Dwight and his status as the school principal makes no sense. The fact that he continuously makes up rules despite school principals not being allowed to write their own rules, he destroys students' personal belongings, expels Rafe after he set off a false fire alarm as school principals don't have the authority to expel students, and there are plenty of kids with smartphones they can use to record his actions and report, it is never explained how he manages to keep his job despite these circumstances.
 * 3) Some of the movie's elements are very forced. Like the relationship between Rafe's mom and Carl. We never see anything deep about their relationship that makes sense to why Rafe's mom constantly brushes off the problems her kids have with him, and the realization she has about him being a selfish jerk at the end is very rushed.
 * 4) Most of the cast looks too old for their roles, especially Griffin Gluck as Rafe since he looks more like a high schooler than a middle schooler.
 * 5) Unlikeable characters like Miller, and Bear.
 * 6) Rafe's rule breaking scheme is more based around pulling pranks rather than breaking the rules, and he doesn't really break that many rules like he did in the book.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Most of the acting is good. Even Andy Daly's over-the-top performance as Principal Dwight can be pretty funny.
 * 2) The ending was heart-warming.
 * 3) The animation and Voice acting for the drawings are pretty good for 2016 standards, thanks to Duncan Studio.
 * 4) Great musical score and soundtrack.
 * 5) There are some funny moments, like with some of the pranks.

Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 63% approval rate from critics, but has no critic consensus yet.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life was projected to gross $8–10 million from 2,822 theaters during its opening weekend. It went on to open to $6.9 million, finishing 7th at the box office for its first weekend. It finished its theatrical run with a total gross of $23.3 million, making it a moderate success against its $8.5 million production budget.