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Rating: 5/10 (1 October 2010)

As I've said before on my IMDb reviews, I am a super-heroes comics fan, although more of the DC than Marvel persuasion - there is undeniably something appealing to seeing childhood characters leap off the page in human as opposed to animated form. I know a little of the Fantastic Four, but what comes across from this movie version is that they are probably more on the super-hero-lite side of the fence (c.f. Superman, Daredevil - at least the way he was represented on-screen, The Flash, even Iron Man) as opposed to the super-hero-heavy side, where invariably the characters have deeper psychological stuff going on (Batman, Hulk and Spider Man spring to mind).
This FF movie, although enough of a hit to give birth to a sequel definitely falls into the former category, probably to its detriment. Perhaps with the focus shared amongst four heroes, there's no room for penetrating analysis into any of the four's psyches; even the Thing's rejection by his wife and feelings of being a freakish outcast from society is swept aside to the extent that he even recreates his mutation despite being cured by Dr Doom's machine.
So, on with the eye candy - Ioan Gruffudd is pleasant if hardly dominating as the leader of the group, ditto Jessica Alba, who if anything looks too young for her part. Chris Evans gets to give us "yoof-full" attitude while Michalel Chikris probably does best of the four with the greater demands of the Thing's character. Julian McMahon is anodyne but rarely evil as Dr Doom (did Stan Lee give every one of his heroes a villain who was a genius scientist changed by one of their own experiments gone wrong into their evil selves - Dr Octopus, Green Goblin also fit that template).
There's a smattering of sometimes earthy humour, usually from Johnny Storm's "Human Torch" and unsurprisingly Miss Alba gets to shed her clothes to play out the age-old "Invisible Man / Woman" clichés. The effects are mostly good, although there's some poor graphics work in an early sequence where Storm and girlfriend take to the ski-slopes from the skies.
It's all directed at pace and supported by a pounding sub-teen soundtrack which wasn't to my taste but tells you the age group it was aimed at. Despite all this, the film did, for me drag at times and seems to run on too long ad like I said is the weaker for the lack of empathy with any or all of the main characters.
That said, it's the way you'd normally expect a comic - book adaptation to be made, all day-glo and maximum volume. I prefer the guys from the dark side more (Batman, Spider Man) where the adaptations by Nolan and Raimi transcend the source material and reach out beyond the fascinated teenager I was too many years ago.