The Fantastic Four was one of my early comic book favorites. I have always been fond of the series . . . and used to collect anything and everything I could find by the late master artist Jack “King” Kirby (co-creator of the series with Stan “The Man” Lee). So, this series has a special place in my memories of youth . . . despite having long ago been replaced by other titles as my favorite.

The new film adaptation is right on the money as far as the tone and feel and context of the piece. It is less serious than many other recent comic book adaptations to the silver screen but it is nevertheless very very good as simple entertainment. No angst like Spiderman and no self-loathing as in Batman but neither is it simply cardboard cutouts.

I really liked the balance between pathos and comedy with the Ben Grimm (The Thing) character. It captured the serious elements of the comic book as well as the comedic touch. It was nice to hear “It’s clobberin’ time!” as well.

Lorraine and I saw the film in Warner Village in Taipei with out daughter who has no grounding in American comic books beyond the few films that have shown here. However, she loved the animated film The Incredibles and so has at least been introduced to some of the concepts. In fact, a little boy shouted out in the theatre (in Chinese) that the film was just like a live version of The Incredibles which obviously excited him quite a bit . . . the audience roared with laughter at that moment of epiphany for the child).

It was interesting to see how they were handling Dr. Doom’s origin alongside that of the FF. The evil Doctor is not a nice guy . . . not in the least . . . but he is a fan favorite. Long ago, when dinosaurs walked the Earth and I was at university for my BA, a buddy of mine did a “Three Doctors” poster illustration for me where he took my favorite science fiction doctors and did female versions of them based upon Playboy centerfolds . . . Doctor Who, Doctor Strange, and Doctor Doom. Wish I still had that . . . probably do back in the States buried under long forgotten books and papers in Mom’s closets somewhere.

In any case, don’t expect Fantastic Four to be heavy drama or great cinema . . . it is escapist entertainment and it is just right for that. Enjoy.