Uncharacteristically, I am going to begin my review by giving my rating. I give this film a 7 (good) out of 10. My audience exit poll, asking people for a rating out of 10, yielded: one 7, a bunch of 8s and 9s, one 9.5 and a 10. I will now explain why I my rating wasn’t more enthusiastic.

I always get a little concerned when I have high expectations for a film and I had been counting down the days to see this one. I was a big fan of the CAPTAIN MARVEL movie (9 out of 10), the MS MARVEL series (7 out of 10) and was the Monica Rambeau story from WANDA VISION (8 out of 10) and was looking forward to the blending of those very different tones of production.

So, that was my mindset before walking into the prerelease viewing of this movie - high anticipation.

My first two impressions were related to the production quality.
1) My attention to the story was interrupted by a clash between the CGI and 3D. The 3D images were sharp but the background images were blurry, not a good start for a movie that is mostly CGI, I immediately wished I had gone to a non 3D viewing.
2). The trailers had already spoiled that the the plot twist of this movie was that all three main characters are caught up in a cosmic entanglement in which they arbitrarily swap places with each other throughout the universe whenever they use their powers. What was meant to be a cool effect ended up being a chaotic (if comedic) mess that made the fight scenes almost impossible to follow while disconnecting the audience from the characters and the action.

As for the rest of it, the story telling (besides the muddled character swaps) was fun and actually had a great story arc with some nice threads. The characters and their performances were engaging and delightful and well executed although there was little actual character development, beyond the expected bonding of the team of three (a crucial component of storytelling for me). I was particularly amused by the Flurkin (sp?) hijinks set to the soundtrack of Barbra Streisand singing Memories from CATS and the mini-musical and reveal on the planet Aladna (sp?).

However, the last scene of the film really excited me as it teased where the TV version of the Marvels might be going with a tie in of another favourite character in the TV Marvel Universe. The mid-credit scene tease almost brought me to my feet because it hints of a resurrection of favourite Marvel U franchise of mine. (Man, it was hard to write these without spoiling them), Don’t bother to wait for a post-credit scene, it was merely a sound effect drawn from inside the movie, itself.

Thanks for bearing with me for this L O N G review. [Superhero Adventure]