Entertaining, some plot changing decisions harm it though.

Rating: 6/10 (23 June 2007)

Good but nothing special, Spiderman was better than this but that doesn't mean this was bad. Whenever you might think this comic movie is bad think about ghost rider and you'll realize this movie is actually awesome in comparison.
Acting was OK but nothing special or memorable. People keep bashing Alba and McMahon, but they aren't that bad, I've seen worse from supposedly great actors, i won't name names because thats a matter of opinion i suppose.
Doom's involvement in the plot was badly done but his final battle was a treat and made me sort of forgive his absurd presence alongside the F4.
Special effects were good in some places like the silver surfer himself but were bad in other like on reed's stretchy powers. However overall they worked.
Surfer's powers coming from his board were a change but it doesn't harm the original plot too much. Galactus being a persona-less cloud that simply does not live up to his great comic character was a MAJOR bad move. They destroyed an awesome character and morality issue when dismissing his motivations for eating planets by changing him into a pathetic cloud.
Sound and music felt like it was just thrown in and seemed generic and not very effective. Suspense and atmosphere suffered in parts because of this such as Sue's encounter with the surfer in the woods.
Cinematography and shots seemed style-less until the latter half of the film such as surfer's supposed self sacrifice and the doom battle sequence, only then did i see the comic book style visuals, that made me raise eyebrows and think 'that was a nice angle' (such as when Ben flies past doom in his ship and gives him quite possibly the biggest punch ever).
Overall it delivered a lot with what it was but could have been a bit braver and given Galactus a character and cut out a lot of doom's presence. they could have made him a more shadowy, plotting-in-the background kind of character rather than working with the F4 a lot of the time. You can hear the echoes of the Hollywood suits whenever he is on screen, listen carefully... "you can't make Julian McMahon an ugly Dr. Doom, make him sexy so girls who fancy him will buy tickets to the movie, to hell with Dr. Doom i don't care if thats supposed to be his character, make him Dr. Christian Troy, the fantastic four plot be damned." If they had been more true to the already strong characters of the comics, and been braver with the soundtrack and dialogue this could have easily toppled Spidey. However as it stands its still watchable and entertaining with competent comedy and action. A good film that built up your hopes for an epic end climax, but cops out and says "make him a cloud, surfer wastes him and 'that'll do'."