Enjoyable but not memorable.

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2019)

George Lucas's unedited ideas of how Star Wars: A new Hope would have began should be taught in all theater classes; that movie was truly saved in the edit. Captain Marvel, however, was not. If Captain Marvel was our introduction to the Marvel universe, we would not be seeing a sequel. That is not to say it is not a good movie, but it is flawed, and enough so that it cannot stand all that impressively on its own.
Three great things about the movie:
1) Thalos/Ben Mendolsohn plays a convincing and relatable villain. He possibly played his role better than anyone in the movie.
2) Nick Fury/Samuel Jackson plays his role very well too. Fury and Thalos were the high points, definitely carrying the movie. I never felt myself getting lost in the movie, or even really drawn into the story, unless one of them was on screen. And I did notice myself losing interest in the movie with their absence. Not all of the other performances were bad, but no others really stood out.
3) Goose/The Cat was a surprise and had the entire audience laughing. Without spoiling anything, being reminded of Rathtars from Disney's "The Force Awakens" was depressing and being reminded of Groot felt like an uncreative knockoff. Otherwise, the ever-present orange tabby was fun.
Three not so great things about this movie:
1) Pace. There is a good story here, possibly a great story. But it is not well told. The characters and plot are poorly introduced; not so much that we, the audience, feel like we are being hit over the head there is so little subtlety, but enough so that it felt mundane. It is like picking up a new video game and spending the first hour just grinding through tutorials. There is no room for the audience to question anything, or wonder what will happen next, let alone make mistakes. And by the end, with all of the shout outs, references, and cameos spilt, I wonder if there will be anything entertaining enough left to merit a second viewing. Action and music can help fill the void, or cover it up, but in the end this movie lacks substance.
2) Physics. Science may not matter to everyone, but sticking with the established physical rules of a given universe is key to believability and immersion. The Avengers universe is OUR universe, and while we are asked to just accept some things, like magical gem stones, less magical things should follow the laws of physics. Too many times, this movie traded out our universe for the Harry Potter universe, each time disconnecting anyone over the age of 13 from any sense of awe or continuity.
3) The main gal herself. Brie Larson/Captain Marvel is either poorly directed, poorly edited, poorly written, or just a bad actress. perhaps all of the above. While she wasn't unbearable to watch, like Black Panther's mother was, she wasn't a side character with 3 minutes of screen time either. If the writers were trying to make a snarky, sassy main character, well, they almost got it. Captain Marvel comes across as a stuck up and immature teenage glam girl catastrophe. And that worked at first! When you have an invincible hero, you make the story interesting by having said hero fail to their inner demons. The problem here is that Captain Marvel never overcame her inner demons, and won out anyways. While the character development was better than Superman's, it still felt hollow. A better editor would have cut introductions shorter, left out unnecessary flashy action, and focused longer on showing some character progression. Oh, and Brie Larson cannot run. Perhaps blame it on an awkwardly tight costume, but the first time they showed her running down a hall, I just stared dumbfoundedly wondering what on earth she was doing. Fighting, they did a passable job of making her look like a somewhat competent hand to hand combatant (she's got nothing on Scarlet Johansson's Black Widow), but for the love, please do not show her running on screen any more. Especially not next to people who do run. Might as well be showing Phoebe Buffet running around D.C. with Captain America yelling "On your left."
In closing, some reviewers argue that this movie is simply another attempt by Disney at promoting their feminist agenda. I did not get that impression at all, and I think the anti-feminist and anti-Disney agenda may be being unjustly driven by extremists in this case. The only times I was concerned that bad morals were being promoted were in the immaturity of the hero and the idea blatantly put forth at one point that glory seeking should take precedence over motherhood and child-rearing. In short, if your moral standing is such that you took no issue with Frozen, you will likely have no issue with Captain Marvel either.
Overall, it was a fine film. Samuel Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn elevated it at times, and there is a pretty decent story here. It could have been better. I would suggest watching it without any grand expectations and you will likely not feel like you just wasted two hours of your life.