MB-reviewer185

I will start by saying I did not like Fantastic Four from 2005 or Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer from 2009, though comic accurate, it was too silly and cheesy, while the movie Fantastic Four from 2015 was bad from being too dark and serious and boring that did not work; so, having The Fantastic Four coming into the MCU was a little worrying, but I had my fingers crossed that this fourth attempt will be at least good. The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) was great and was what I wanted out of a Fantastic Four film with its great performances, fun action sequences, well-done practical and CGI effects, emotional and suspenseful scenes, effective comedy, and a nice family dynamic; what I liked is that you can watch this Marvel movie on its own without having to watch the others before it.

Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are great as the Fantastic Four, and I thought the family dynamic between them was great and handled well making believe they are the first superhero family and work together; I like how each one of them have their own problems going on to solve, like Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic trying to find an answer to the unexplained or Sue Storm/Invisible Woman trying to be a mother but want to do what she can to help everyone from the upcoming threat, along with the drama between Reed and Sue on how to protect their son. I liked the cocky ladies' man personality of Johnny Storm in this, but he has his moments showing he is smart but does not act nerdy about it; along with Ben Grimm/The Thing dealing with his own life as this rock creature since the accident in space, which I would have liked more of in the film.

The villain Galactus played great by Ralph Ineson was threatening, intimidating, and better than what Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2009) did and made him comic accurate, along with him having an interesting backstory of sorts that explains why he is like this and always hungry for planets; also, Julia Garner was good as Silver Surfer, with her being a herald for Galactus, being intimidating, and having a backstory for her situation. There are quite a few fun action sequences that are fast paced with beneficial effects that mix practical and CGI effects, along with effective emotional and suspenseful scenes, and effective comedy from the characters; what really worked was the 60's futuristic setting on Earth-828 in another universe, and it fits the comic booky style it is going for while handling serious moments well.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) was great and was what I wanted out of a Fantastic Four film with its great performances, fun action sequences, well-done practical and CGI effects, emotional and suspenseful scenes, effective comedy, and a nice family dynamic; what I liked is that you can watch this Marvel movie on its own without having to watch the others before it. This is the best Fantastic Four movie we have gotten, and it is also a fun MCU movie that you can enjoy without seeing the other Marvel films, which I like since catching up on them can be a lot to do; love or hate the MCU at this point, this is still worth watching.

DreamWorks is great and I loved the first The Bad Guys (2022) as this fun animated heist movie based on the book series by author Aaron Blabey that has amazing animation that I loved watch multiple times, so it meant I wanted a sequel to it and just more of these likable characters and scenarios; so having a sequel come out three years later got me excited. DreamWorks's sequel The Bad Guys 2 (2025) was excellent, and I had a wonderful time with it and its voice acting, fun action, amazing animation, effective comedy, entertaining scenarios, and just a fun continuation of the first; what was fun is the new group of characters known as the bad girls which are cool additions for this sequel that is going less heist comedy film and more action comedy, and it works very well.

Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, and Anthony Ramos are still great as Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Shark, and Mr. Piranha, with them still working great together and I like the conflict of them trying to prove they are good despite people not believing them, especially after the events of the first film; once they meet the bad girls, I liked their interactions with each other and how the bad girls have leverage against them. I still like Diane in this, once again voiced great by Zazie Beetz, though she did not have too much to do in this movie, I still liked what she was doing which was investigating what is going on with the bad girls and what their main heist is; plus, there's a returning character that appears that I was not expecting but found funny and entertaining to see.

I liked the addition of the bad girls as the antagonists, with them consisting of Kitty, Pigtail, and Doom played great by Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, and Natasha Lyonne, with them all being entertaining in their own ways having their own personalities, and I liked how they operate compared to how the bad guys operated; also, I will add that Kitty was very intimidating and scary in scenes, but also funny in other scenes being a good antagonist. The animation is fantastic just like the first, making the action sequences fun and fast paced, and beautiful to look at with its backgrounds and details among the effective funny comedy in the movie and the suspenseful scenes; I will also quickly add that the score by composer Daniel Pemberton was just as great as his score for the first movie.

The DreamWorks sequel The Bad Guys 2 (2025) was excellent, and I had a wonderful time with it and its voice acting, fun action, amazing animation, effective comedy, entertaining scenarios, and just a fun continuation of the first; what was fun is the new group of characters known as the bad girls which are cool additions for this sequel that is going less heist comedy film and more action comedy, and it works very well fitting in with the world they set up in the first movie and the style of the characters. I loved the first film and watched it a bunch, but I might have liked this sequel just as much if not more than the first and thought DreamWorks did great continuing the story; the ending made me want a third film, and I hope they do.

Without getting into how the DCEU was performing and how it ended, but I will quickly add that I liked Henry Cavill's Superman and wish they used him better; besides all that, I was looking forward to seeing this new rebooted DCU now by James Gunn, especially since it meant getting and starting with a new Superman film, and how going towards the light-hearted route he originated from was going to go, depending on the actor you get in the role. The new Superman (2025) was a great start in this new DCU but also just a great Superman film with great performances, effective comedy and emotional moments, fun action, well-done uses of CGI and practical effects, and unexpected changes; the changes they do in this film to the Superman origin or character is different, and I would understand if people don't like it, but I liked it and thought it worked in well with the character, who he is, and what he stands for.

David Corenswet was great as Superman/Clark Kent, with him embodying what make Superman a great character and hero in the DC comics, by having him be likable and funny, and have a charm to him that makes you like seeing him save people despite what everyone says about him that could degrade him, along with having a good use for his dog Krypto in the story which was cute; I liked the aspect of him learning about himself and who he really is in terms of being from Krypton, and what his purpose is, though I thought there should have been more scenes of him as Clatk Kent. Rachel Brosnahan was also great as Lois Lane, with her having nice chemistry with Superman/Clark Kent, but also has that determination to do anything for a big story at the Daily Planet; she had a good part in the story and I like how the relationship between her and Superman/Clark Kent is a bit up and down on how they work or just a discussion about Superman needing to talk with the government to save people, which was interesting.

Though the film can feel a little crowded by having the Justice Gang in here, I still thought Mr. Terrific, Guy Gardner, and Hawkgirl played by Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, and Isabela Merced were used well in the film, with them already being friends with Superman and helping him out with threats, even though Superman tries to handle things differently and without casualties compared to their lethal route; and the inclusion of Metamorpho was handled well enough where it made sense why he was in the film. One of the issues with the film I will add is that the film can feel disjointed or overstuffed with things, like multiple characters in a Superman movie or plot points being introduced without much of a reason but since it is going for that comic booky style you give it a pass; the main thing is that the film starts in the action and you have to be caught up to speed with what is happening and what things are when brought up.

Nicholas Hoult was excellent as Lex Luthor, with him being very threatening but very smart and occasionally full of himself which makes him interesting once you are in on why he hates Superman and what is main goal is, along with having characters like The Engineer working for him who was also intimidating in action, along with Ultraman and who he is later in the film; when Superman and Lex Luthor are interacting I thought those were cool scenes which leads to a great speech from Superman near the end. The action sequences are fun and fast paced with well-done effects for each character's abilities and/or gadgets, the comedy in the film goes back and forth between funny and campy, there are highly effective emotional moments such as with Pa and Ma Kent later, there are epic moments and the comic booky style worked well for this film, and I liked the changes to Superman's origin in the film keeping true to the character; the issues are just it being disjointed at times and it can be overstuffed with characters and plot devices or plot points.

The new Superman (2025) was a great start in this new DCU but also just a great Superman film with great performances, effective comedy and emotional moments, fun action sequences, well-done uses of CGI and practical effects, and unexpected changes; the changes they do in this film to the Superman origin or character is different, and I would understand if people don't like it, but I liked it and thought it worked in well with the character, who he is, and what he stands for. I do think this is the best Superman film since Superman (1978) with Christopher Reeve, but also a great start to this new rebooted DC universe showing it is at least going in the right direction; I had fun with the film, and I am sure fans will too cause it stays true to the Superman character, making this a great return to form for DC.