This Year's Best, Worst, Super Bowl Ads

The much-anticipated Seinfeld reunion turned out to be a Super Bowl commercial, although commentators say it wasn't one of the highlights in a "middling" year for ads, which was a lot lighter in gross-outs and raunchiness than many previous years. Some highlights and lowlights, as rounded up by the Washington Post, AdWeek, and Variety:

• Kia: "The Truth." Laurence Fishburne reprises his role as Morpheus from The Matrix, now a valet who offers a couple the choice of a blue key or a red key.

• Toyota Highlander. The Muppets meet Terry Crews on a dusty road and launch into a new jingle: "We ain't got no time for boring."
• Budweiser: "Puppy Love." This heartwarming ad about a puppy and his Clydesdale pal was a big hit even before the game, with more than 33 million pre-Super Bowl views on YouTube.
• Chevy Silverado: "Romance." A rancher takes his bull on a little field trip—to a field full of cows.

And a couple of duds:

• Maserati: "Now We Strike." Dramatic and well produced, "but I have no idea what the hell it has to do with cars," writes Brian Lowry at Variety.
• Subway: "It's Crunch Time." Olympians praise sandwiches in an unexceptional ad that appears to have been created at the last minute.

(More Super Bowl stories.)