Newton’s Third Law of Motion says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the case of “Juno,” it seems that a strongly-positive critical reaction has returned as a largely negative reaction from self-appointed “Juno”-haters. They rail against the film, matching critics’ and audiences’ praise with equally-loud criticism.

“Juno” was one of the most pleasant surprises in this year’s group of releases, which could’ve gone down in history as “The Year of Three-quels.” We sat through “Spider-Man 3,” “Pirates 3” and “Ocean’s 13.” None of these manufactured products are awful (with the exception of “Rush Hour 3”) but they had no souls and little brains. “Juno” had heart and brains in excess. I also don’t recall hearing the same level of criticism that “Juno” has received being given to Eddie Murphy’s unfunny and downright racist portrayals in “Norbit,” another 2007 product.

I’ve heard all of the criticisms of “Juno” before; it’s not “realistic enough” for some people, and others think that people only like it because it’s popular. First of all, are we really going to discount every movie that’s not set in the “real world?” If we did that, we’d have to discount the collected works of Ingmar Bergman, Fritz Lang, Jean-Luc Godard and hundreds of other filmmakers who never worked within the confines of “real world.” We’d also have to immediately degrade musicals, science fiction, horror and most comedy from the ranks of “good film.”

What’s worse, I don’t even think the makers of “Juno” meant for it to be real. Everything about the film is stylized; the dialogue, the sets and even the costumes. “Juno,” like “Fargo,” “M” or most other films you can name, reflects the world in which we live more than it resides within it. If your parents think they can understand you better because they saw “Juno,” you need to have the “it’s only a movie” talk they had with you all those years ago.

As for the “popularity” argument, when did critics get such a massive influence over audiences? If people liked only what critics liked, “Jumper” would not have made over $25 million this weekend and Hannah Montana would only be practicing her generic brand of uninspired pop while playing “Rock Band” with friends. To believe that critics hold some sort of Jedi mind control power over the masses is ludicrous. Somewhere along the way, someone must have liked Diablo Cody’s script enough to finance the film, Jason Reitman must have liked it enough to direct it and Ellen Page to star in it.

Whether you want to admit it, people like “Juno” because it’s a good film. It may not be your favorite, or deserving of a “Best Picture” Oscar nomination (I disagree, however), but the pieces are all there in what is a good, solid film to say the least.

In reality, people hate “Juno” because it’s successful and look for ways to minimize that success. Those people need to go away and appreciate a poignant work of art. It’s time for the unjust hatred of the “little movie that could” to end.

Brad will be part of Uwire.com’s live coverage of the Oscars this Sunday. Contact him with you Oscar thoughts at boron@wisc.edu.