Skeletal mesh and facial animations

I’m actually a little afraid of facial bones x) It works well for jaws and eye direction, but I have no idea of how to “rig a smile” for instance.
On the other hand, I was told that blendshapes could be somewhat costly. Is this true?

Regarding my characters, most of them will be humans, so they should all behave the same. I may have some smaller or/and chubbier figures though (not much more, but still). Can they still use the same skeleton?