Blue Hawaii

Name: Blue Hawaii
Director: Norman Taurog
Released: 1961

Synopsis

Chad Gates has just been discharged from the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surf-board, his beach buddies and his girlfriend.

83
The A.V. Club
Compared to the morose plots of later Elvis movies, Blue Hawaii is a breezy vacation, and Presley looks appealingly relaxed as every Hawaiian's favorite haole.
70
IGN
It's amusing and enjoyable at the same time, in a wholesome Pleasantville kind of way.
63
LarsenOnFilm
There’s a cheerful honesty to Elvis Presley’s Chad Gates in Blue Hawaii that’s irresistible.
60
Variety
Hal Kanter's breezy screenplay, from a story by Allan Weiss, is the slim, but convenient, foundation for a handsome, picture-postcard production crammed with typical South Seas musical hulaballoo.
60
Time Out
Presley escapes the GI Blues and takes a job with a Hawaii tourist agency in this innocuous star vehicle/holiday brochure. Lots of scenery and one tolerable song, Can't Help Falling in Love.
50
The New York Times
Mild, nonsensical and harmless.
50
TV Guide Magazine
Depending on your level of Elvis fandom, you'll either find this a typically fluffy Presley vehicle with mainly forgettable tunes--save the hit I Can't Help Falling in Love--or none of that will matter.
50
Washington Post
Not so much a film as a frolic that established the escapist Elvis formula: an exotic location, curvaceous girls, an inane script and an album's worth of songs. From here on, Elvis is basic boy scout. The music is pastiche Hawaiian, the plot is ridiculous, and the box-office grosses and record sales were incredible. [13 Aug 1987, p.B7]