I think the people who don't like movies like these are the people that expect well done high quality films every time they sit down to watch something... and not just stupid fun.

Deadtime Stories walks the like, it isn't exactly adult and it isn't exactly child friendly either, but so went most of the movies from the 80s, I mean Robocop was a huge hit with kids back then, they even made toys and cartoons and by today's standards CPS will take your kids away if you watch it.

But back then, sticks and stones broke bones, now words, and kids where less sensitive, tougher, less influenced, and more able to separate reality from entertainment... that or we just Molly Coddle too much these days

The problem here though isn't so much the content as it is the humor. It needed to choose if they were going to make the jokes more geared for adults or more geared for kids for them to really land. The mixture between the two is a little weird and off-putting and, though it is entertaining and has it's funny moments, it clearly couldn't decide which it wanted to appeal more towards.

But in the end, however, it doesn't matter, it's still a cheap fun movie to watch, and is all it was ever supposed to be.