Ho Hum Entry

Rating: 6/10 (9 March 2019)

Slightly better than average Marvel movie hampered by atrocious plotting, questionable directing, and overarching periods of paint-by-numbers-etch-a-sketch scenes.
First the negative:

movies (stories of any variety) need to establish an emotional connection with the audience. Outside overt SJW victim moments (father bashing daughter's dreams; every male in her youth's backstory mocking her and deriding her, blah blah blah puke, i know), the larger weakness of the story is that she begins fully empowered and ends fully empowered. Or, in more succinct terms: Marvel movies rarely 'threaten' the heroes (outside Logan or the 2018 Avengers). Therefore, the successful movies (see Thor: Ragnarok, all 3 Captain America's, Dr Strange, etc) have to either have overarching humor, plotting or 'the unusual".

Had this been a traditional marvel movie, I suppose we'd have started with Carol Danvers as a youth, had act 2 as a Kree, and wound up approximately where we did with act 3. Perhaps this approach would've yielded a more cathartic experience. They didn't do this. They tried something else- and whether due to the writing, the directing, acting or otherwise, this movie missed in the same way X-Men 3 did back in the day.

captain Marvel: with one notable scene exception, Brie L's performance was flatter than Tom Brady's preferred state of footballs.
the score, not to be confused with the great songs from the 90s, was terrible. I'm not expecting John Williams at his peak, but I'd like something more than bad Super Mario riffs.
the finale: hardening from the atrocious 90s cartoon Captain Planet: great effects, and no emotive qualities, cool special effects or.. remote likelihood of non success.

Now the positive:

the cat. Absolute a+ Feline casting
Samuel L Jackson- eternally proving that lemonade is possible
Lashanna Lynch - needed more scenes

And the highest moments- the 'house scenes' between Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau. Their interplay was the saving grace of the movie. Proof that Brie Larsen can act, and freed of espousing disparagement upon half of humanity, the writers could cobble together a quality (series of) scene(s). The movie is richer for having it, and poorer for not having more like it.
The film will generate its revenue for Marvel, and is not deserving the majority of its negative reviews. However, it's not nearly as good as- for example- Wonder Woman, striking a quality chord much closer to early 2000s films.