Fits well into the MC-Avengers universe

Rating: Null/10 (8 March 2019)

Finally, after the hint given by the S.O.S. message sent by disintegrating Nick Fury at the gloomy conclusion of "Avengers: Infinity War", Captain Marvel joins the MCU family with her own stand-alone introduction, which can arguably be considered the prequel to the Avengers series.
Purely from the perspective of the cinema (that is, not the original MCU and DC comics), comparison of the two ground-breaking woman superhero is inevitable. "Wonder Woman" has set a challenging high bar for "Captain Marvel". One similarity that jumps out right away is the "Stranger in a strange land" syndrome (talking about Robert A. Heinlein's immortal science fiction novel written in 1961). This is about someone arriving in an entirely alien culture (as a result of either space or time displacement) often giving rise to levity aplenty. One other good example is Thor on Earth. In our comparison, while Diane Prince delights in the fashion of London in the early 20th century, Carol Danver finds the "technology" of the 1990s in L.A. laughably primitive. Both movies have the good sense of not overusing this material beyond generating some light-hearted fun.
The difference, on the other hand, is significant - romance, and the absence of which. In "Wonder Woman", romance plays an important part to both plot and character development. This element is absent in "Captain Marvel". As a partial substitute is an "odd couple" sort of subplot. This works marvelously in generating mirthful entertainment, thanks to the excellent chemistry between Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson (and the miracle-like computer graphics that make a 70-year-old man look like 30). But that is not enough to put "Captain Marvel" in the same class of groundbreakers as "Wonder Woman" or "Black Panther" (if you wish compare within the Marvel universe).
Without spoilers, not much further can be said about "Captain Marvel" and its plot twists. What can perhaps be said is that this movie answers quite a few questions, especially for that segment of audience that are familiar with the "Avengers" movies but not the source comics: the origin of the Tesseract cube, how Nick Fury became one-eyed, why of all people he sent his S.O.S. to Captain Marvel and, even the origin of the name "Avengers".
A very brief mention of the basic plotline may be in order for people who are not MCU comic book fans, such as myself. In the war between the alien worlds Skrull and Kree, Vers (Brie Larson) is a well-trained warrior of the latter, although her own original identity is not known, even to herself, as she has somehow lost her memory. Eager to put her excellent training into use, she finally convinces mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) to take her on a mission. Captured by the Skrull, she is put through a memory-searching device by Talos (Ben Menselsohn) who tries to find a particular piece of information. Through this, the audience gets to see fragment from her early childhood, as a normal but exceptionally strong-willed little girl called Carol Danvers. Then, we see her as a U.S. fighter pilot. Through a well-crafted set-piece (one of the many in the movie) she escapes and finds herself landing in L.A., literally, a crash landing through the roof of a video store (one of the most prolific establishments in the 90s). Carol meets Nick (digitally rejuvenated Samuel L. Jackson), which yields the best part of the movie, delightful bantering with sparkling chemistry mentioned. Their mission, which for a little while plays out like a road movie, is to look for a brilliant scientist and also Carol Danvers's mentor (played by Annette Bening) at the air force six years ago. This is about as far as I will go. It is clichÃ© to say that things may not be as what they seem and this already constitutes a spoiler of sorts.
The path taken by "Captain Marvel" is not unlike that of "Thor Ragnarok", although maybe not to that extent. Rather than aiming for the grandiose, to the extent a "popular movie" (the on-and-off-again new Oscar category) can, the moviemakers tried for a funny superhero movie, and have succeeded, thanks to Larson and Jackson. As a superhero, Captain Marvel is too powerful, making her to MCU something Superman is to DC. This, I do realize, may be crucial to "Avengers" End Game", which has a foe as powerful as Thanos.
As a girl with a rebellious spirit, Carol Danvers provides the human story. In addition to the Larson & Johnson show, I find something else I really like, a mother-and-daughter pair, Maria (Lashana Lynch) and Monica (11-years-old Akira Akbar). Maria is Carol's fellow pilot and truest friends. The sincerity Lynch brings to this character is quite moving. Akbar is such a joy to watch portraying how Monica worships and at the same time inspires her idol and role model "auntie Carol". And the, it has just been declared a criminal offense to post a review of "Captain Marvel" that omits mentioning Goose, the orange cat.
The one lump-in-throat moment belongs to Stan Lee, in his signature cameo (in commuter train this time). He will be missed.