Just not that good

Rating: 6/10 (13 September 2014)

There was a lot to like in this film, but ultimately it failed to connect with me... Which is a shame, because I really really really wanted to like it. It had some interesting characters, funny interactions, and sweet effects, but ultimately failed to bring everything together in a way which made the sum meaningful.
After my wife and I left the theater I was almost embarrassed to ask her what she thought--because I was afraid she was going to say what I was already feeling myself... and that after I pushed her to see the movie when she was decidedly "meh" after seeing the trailer. Neither of us really cared for it, and both of us were disappointed. We both walked away thinking, so this is why it doesn't make sense to go see movies in the theater anymore. You drop a lot of money to see big budget extravaganza's which ultimately fail to satisfy. It just felt like a movie which only played lip service to the characters, and dwelled on the action. For me, a lot of action has no meaning without a lot of character substance. And it's a bad sign if I find myself more interested in the "bad guy" winning and destroying planets, and being generally evil, than I am in the "good guys" saving the day. This was totally the case here. I didn't really care if the good guys won or the bad guy won.
I hear they're already making a sequel. My wife and I have been burned by the first one and have little interest in more of the same. There was so much good stuff here which was squandered that it really makes me sad.