I want to float a rule that I wish more critics could embrace: When judging art, also ask yourself, “how well did this achieve the goals it set out to achieve?” Too regularly I see critics set their own bar to measure something with. But a good critic knows that both Gordon Ramsay and Ronald McDonald are great at what they do. Is the Mario Movie a good movie? Well, what was it trying to be? Was it that?
On the other hand, you should also be willing to criticize an artist's intentions and goals in themselves