At the time of its release, "Animal House" received mixed reviews from critics but several immediately recognized its appeal, and it has since been recognized as one of the best films of 1978. The film holds a 90% positive rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes from 51 critics. Its consensus states "The talents of director John Landis and "Saturday Night Live"'s irrepressible John Belushi conspired to create a rambunctious, subversive college comedy that continues to resonate." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".