The New Yorker said the Bob Dylan Chrysler ad was one of the worst. Reviewer Ian Crouch felt betrayed by Dylan:

Chrysler: Bob Dylan has appeared in a few commercials in the past decade—Victoria’s Secret, Cadillac—and his songs have appeared in many more. (Earlier in the night, a Chobani ad used his song “I Want You” to peddle yogurt.) Each time, people remark about how sad it is to see him shilling for big corporations. It is. The very act of selling things goes against so many of his sharpest, most acerbic lyrics. Hearing Dylan issue some pretty banal pronouncements about what it means to be American-made, finally promising the audience, “We will build your car”—well, it may have been the most perfect, sad encapsulation of the commercial bloated-ness of the Super Bowl. Still, for this Dylan fan, there was something about seeing him in his late-career duds, shooting pool, and cackle-crooning the words “zoom” and “thrust” that made me want to forgive the whole thing. Almost.

Entertainment Weekly also called the Dyland commercial one of the worst:

Chrysler: “Things Have Changed,” indeed, if Bob Dylan is SELLING something!

Forbes.com, always worried about money, noted that Chrysler probably spent $16 million on its Dylan ad, and lost big-time because the ad had the misfortune to run late in the blow-out, when many fans had tuned out. But reviewer Allen St. John liked the content.

The Dylan spot itself was nicely crafted. Stylistically, it takes its cue from the Eminem spot that ran in 2011 game, content to simply increase the star power. The opening line “Is there anything more American than America?” is appropriately inscrutable...The ad doesn’t quite have the edge of the Clint Eastwood’s “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spot from 2012. But Dylan is Dylan and his mere presence elevated the spot–and will likely get people to talk about the spot after the fact even if they didn’t watch it live. It was a solid effort, arguably the best Super Bowl spot in a very mediocre crop. One that would have made a bigger impact if anyone was still watching the game when it aired.

Brent Snavely, in a wrap-up on all the Super Bowl's car ads in the Free Press, notes the "rah-rah America" message in the Dylan piece is ironic, because:

The commercial comes less than two weeks since Italian automaker Fiat became the 100% owner of Chrysler — a fact likely to generate lots of debate when the merit of the ad is discussed in days to come. 

Snavely quotes Michael Bernacchi, a professor of marketing for the University of Detroit Mercy, who said Chrysler is in danger of pushing a narrative that is beginning to feel rehashed given the 2011 two-minute “Imported from Detroit” Super Bowl commercial with Eminem and the “Halftime in America” Super Bowl Commercial with Clint Eastwood.

“We have seen this before, this was a reshaping of it,” Bernacchi said. “What they did in two minutes, they could have done in one minute.”

The New Yorker's Crouch was also a grouch when it came to Chevrolet's cow-love ad. Many critics agreed that Chevy's effort was off-key.

Chevrolet: Animal breeding is best not considered too deeply. And, at any rate, it should never be presented accompanied by the song “You Sexy Thing,” by Hot Chocolate. One of the worst lingering trends of Super Bowl ads is silly, winking sexual innuendo, which seems borrowed from another time. It wears especially poorly with cows.

Entertainment Weekly agreed:

Chevy: Here’s a rancher taking his bull to get laid, basically.

Chuck Barney in The Contra Costa (Calif.) Times was also down on the cow:

A spot for the Chevrolet Silverado gleefully flipped the script with a slow-build plot line that had a truck owner enabling a beefy steer to become one happy stud ("Hello, ladies!").

It made for a surprise twist, but bovine sex? Really, Chevrolet?

The Wrap liked James Franco's work in the commercial for Ford Motor's Fusion Hybrid.

If they wanted over-the-top, Ford Motor Company couldn’t have cast a better star than James Franco for its Super Bowl commercial.

If you’re at all familiar with Franco’s work, then you know that he doesn’t do anything ordinary.

In the game day spot, the busiest man in Hollywood found time to one-up “Daily Show” correspondent Rob Riggle in the 90-second “Nearly Double” commercial for the Ford Fusion Hybrid.

Franco recreates Riggle’s commercial, but with the flair one would expect from the star. His version includes a tiger, pyrotechnics, choreographed dancers and hanging out of window to blow a dandelion.

Barney in the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times was less impressed:

FUSION CONFUSION: James Franco, tigers and jets, oh my. Still, Ford's big-budget spot about "double the awesomeness" failed to double our interest.