Characters dominate action.

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2000)

Any kind of an adaptation bears a heavy risk of missing the balance of compromise between tradition of its source material and dramatic license. Comic book adaptations seem even more prone to this balance then most media. X-Men works because it finds this balance quite handily.
The X-Men are products of a representation of racism and inequality. They were created in a time when these factors were predominant in society. The film actually chooses to focus on this as the story instead of setting up a reason for everyone to fight. This makes the characters not only more believable, but when the inevitable fight scenes do occur, you actually want to root for the good guys, because you actually care about them.
Any person who writes this movie off as another comic book adaptation may have, based on precedent, some reason to do so, but it'd be a shame to deny yourself a glimpse at what it looks like when it's done just right.