Fantastic Four ***
Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington
Director: Tim Story
Running Length: 1:50
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Reed Richards (Gruffudd), Sue Storm (Alba), Ben Grimm (Chiklis), Johnny Storm (Evans), and Victor Von Doom (McMahon) embark upon a mission to Von Doom's space station to study the effects of cosmic rays on living material. Reed's motives are the good of humanity, Victor's are profit, and he already has squeezed out 75% of the proceeds for himself. They are supposed to be protected by the space station, but when things goe wrong, they are all exposed to the radiation. Their DNA is significantly altered, and they soon find themselves with super powers.

Reed, Mr. Fantastic, becomes elastic. Sue, the Invisible Woman, can turn invisible and manipulate force fields. Ben, the Thing, becomes rock-like with immense strength. Johnny, the Human Torch, can ignite himself at will and even fly. Victor, Dr. Doom, goes to the dark side with his ability to manipulate electricity and his development of a metal skin. They must all deal with this adjustment, contemplate changing themselves back, and facing off against each other four vs. one.

The greatest weakness of "FF" is that it is an origin story. Most viewers will want to see some action right away. Die hard fans of the comic will be dismayed at the alteration of Dr. Doom's origins. In fact, the origin IS the story, culminating in the big battle to end the film.
While no where as good as "Batman Begins" or "Spider-Man 2", "FF" carves out its own niche in the superhero movie world. True to the comics, the story is mostly lighter in tone with the inter-character humor that fans will expect. It is an enjoyable popcorn film that does not strive to be more than it is.

Acting wise, the cast is pretty good. Michael Chiklis steals every scene as Ben, weather he is human looking or rocky looking. He also provides the most moving of stories. After all, his world is turned upside down by his transformation, and not in a good way. Ioan Gruffudd is capable as the somewhat boring Reed Richards. And Chris Evans is perfect as the wisecracking Johnny Storm. The interaction between Ben and Johnny is priceless at times, and is very true to the source material.

"FF" is a thoroughly entertaining movie that can be seen by the whole family, and can be enjoyed by all. That is more than can be said for most of the other movies out there right now, and that works greatly in its favor. Hopefully, with this origin story out of the way, any sequels can dive right into the action that many viewers crave. Give it a chance, and I think you will be pleased.