Metacritic reviews

Attention all units: Slapstick in progress in the vicinity of Police Academy. Suspects wanted for mugging the camera and possession of night shtiks with intent to incite a laugh riot. Please respond to this blues burlesque, a uniformly funny hit sure to have a long run. Its target audience -- those who can take their T&A with a grain of assault. Its plot -- a combo of "Animal House" and "An Officer and a Gentleman." Its stars -- a rainbow coalition of hot newcomers and dependable, unexpendable pros. [23 Mar 1984, p.23]

Despite the quick succession of sight gags director Hugh Wilson engineers in the film, Police Academy has it weak moments, particularly with Steve Guttenberg and Kim Cattrall in the leads. [23 Mar 1984]

Police Academy at its core is a harmless, innocent poke at authority that does find a fresh background in a police academy.

Gag delivery is by shotgun and, as happens when there is even a minimum of talent involved in such projects, some of the material is on target. And some of it is awful. [27 Mar 1984, p.B5]

The movie plows through one outrageous sequence to the next with the momentum of a freight train.

If there's anything worse than a punch line that doesn't work, it's a movie that doesn't even bother to put the punch lines in.