This film is not that bad, in fact it's actually quite a good family film

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2008)

I saw this film a a few weeks ago on the New Year telly, and out of the choice there was of things to watch, this film was the right one. In admittance I had seen the second film first and thought that it wasn't bad either, though everyone had said that it was a big improvement on the first. So when I settled down to watch the first film I braced my self for a film that was, 'so bad it's just bad', but was completely surprised that the film wasn't bad at all, in my opinion it was actually quite good.
In fact as the film got to 30 minutes in I was sat trying to work out what was supposed to be so bad about this film? It had good pace, nice comedic moments and enjoyable, likable and fun characters, there was some heart in there to and the CGI was good and the action in the film is not too much as to over shadow everything else. So I thought that perhaps the problem would be that as the film went on that the end was to be a let down, many a film has been destroyed by a bad middle or pathetic ending, but no the film seemed to be well laid out and at a good pace.Some people I've asked have said that the film was cheesy, but the film is cheesy in a good way, like the new series of Doctor Who is and I believe that the Fantastic Four wasn't designed to be as hard and serious as Batman or X-Men. Yes the film does have some logic holes, but what action or Sci-fi film doesn't? The fact is that if you want a film that young children can watch or you can watch as a family, then I think the Fantastic Four is an all round enjoyable and lovely family film.
Now I will admit that I'm a viewer of the film that didn't read the Fantastic Four as a comic and do not remember the cartoon series at all, so when I came to this film I was just an ordinary viewer watching a set up film for a franchise. Now I understand why some fans may have been unhappy that the film left certain points and pieces out, but the fact is that film is a different medium, and what works in a comic book or cartoon may not translate well to film, or for the beginning of franchise. The first film has to set things up and I think the film is a good basis for the Fantastic Four franchise. Though I do think that perhaps the Fantastic Four may have been better served as a TV series, but that's another issue.
But to put it another way. I have seen and really enjoyed the new Batman Begins, Superman Returns and first two X-Men films, but I bought none of those on DVD. I own both of the Fantastic Four films and I look forward to a third one.