I grew up reading the Fantastic Four Comics , So it was no surprise when I heard the gripes over the first fantastic four movie being silly, goofy, and lightweight. Many viewers don’t realize how on the spot those characters were and little fanboy details aside, the first movie was pretty right on. I think with the right frame of mind, alot more viewers will enjoy Rise of the Silver Surfer more than the first movie, and they should…I think its a better movie.

We catch up with our 4 heroes (Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Ioan Gruffud) on the eve of the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman. We deal with the little imperfections of each of our heroes, like the Thing being unable to get intimate, and the Human Torch’s inability to commit. We get a funny bachelor party with the guys before the government approaches the groom with an assignment…to investigate a series of phenomenon going on in several areas of the Earth’s atmosphere.  This leads to the biggest imperfection of all…..Fantastic’s inability to leave work for the women he loves. Enter the Silver Surfer who has been causing these events as a part of scouting the planet for his boss the planet eater, Galactus. Throw in the re-emergence of Doctor Doom (Smooth Talking Julian Mcmahon) and the 4 have all they can handle.

I always thought the Silver Surfer would be the hardest character to translate in a motion picture. How do you make him look? How much does he have to say? How can you explain his story without taking up too much of the viewer’s time? I have to say its all done beautifully. He looks great, he kicks ass and you get just enough of his story to keep things rolling and keep the audience interested. Unfortunately he is only the second best looking thing in the movie….the first is Jessica Alba in a spandex costume. That aside the chemistry between the cast is still there, the goofy jokes are amusing and the most important thing is that this movie does not take itself too seriously.

I think the problems viewers will have with this movie is exactly what they would think the problem was with the first movie. Its not intense enough, its not graphic, it doesn’t kick you in the stomach hard enough, those are all correct but this isn’t what the movie is trying to be. This is not as intense as any of the X-men films or even the third Spiderman movie. You fear for the heroes, but the make-up of the characters makes them harder to take seriously.

I liked this movie, its better than the first and when people ask me about it I tell them almost word for word what was in the last paragraph. Its funny, light and not very intense. Throw in that its not a very long film and you have a safe summer movie that will entertain the entire family. Its not a roller coaster ride……..its more like the tea cups.

Fantastic Four: B

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