I give it a 7, plus an extra star because I believed the haters.

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2019)

I've seen all the MCU films and I have a special rule for them: I don't check the reviews first. Even if I missed them in cinemas and only got to see them after, I stay away from reviews until I've seen them. I made a mistake when it came to Captain Marvel and at the time it stood at 6.1. As you have all noted, the score has clawed it's way up to 7.1, and I'm glad. Perhaps we should thank the haters and bashers; instead of chasing people away because the film is apparently filled with "male-hating feminist propaganda", rational people came out to see what all the fuss was about and reviewed it based on what it is. Even knowing this, I failed to see what they were talking about.
Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I watched an entertaining movie. Yes it has the "Marvel Filter" and all that, but contrary to what other reviews pointed out about Brie Larson's apparent wooden acting (or the characters lack of personality, which ever way you want to look at it), I actually LIKED Carol Danvers. I know nothing about the comic book side of things so maybe I'm biased? Bear in mind she has lost her memory, been indoctrinated and she is a member of an elite squad that hunts Skrulls, so in a way I can understand the lack of emotion and the attempt at wise cracks that don't really work so well. We learn early on that Starforce aren't exactly the laugh-a-minute crew like Guardians of the Galaxy and she's spent a while with them, so I guess that would rub off.
We see subtle changes in her later on and also when a certain realisation hits and suspicions are confirmed, emotions do show. The problem is that with Captain Marvel as a whole and how they have slotted her story into the back end of this Phase, everything seems a bit rushed, so they had to drop the long back story to cater for the here and now. We see snippets of her past throughout, but we don't get to see the person she might have been before everything happened. Neither of the two people who knew her say "you're different, you've changed" or "this isn't you, the Carol I know wouldn't have done that", which may have helped. So as far as I'm concerned, that is how it was meant to be. I sincerely hope that if she is to carry the torch for the MCU after Avenger: Endgame, that they will explore her backstory a bit more so we get to see the real Carol Danvers. I made a decision that as much as I love the MCU, Endgame would be the final movie for me from this franchise considering rumors of Cap, Ironman and Thor bowing out and what's to come (Spiderman, etc). Now I'm not so sure...
As for the supporting cast, Samuel L Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn stood out. Jackson does his usual thing, but here he's less hardened, more naive. It was a nice take on an early Nick Fury. Mendelsohn delivered some surprising comedy moments which got the audience laughing.
Overall an enjoyable movie. Don't listen to the nay sayers out there, go watch it and make up your own mind. Ignore the politics because I saw none of that here. I give it a 7/10 plus an extra star just because I broke my own rule and it doesn't deserve the bashing and review boming it received.
Oh, and stay for the post credits scenes!