Fantastic Four (DVD, 2009, Widescreen; Movie Cash)

I didn't think much about seeing this movie when it first came out, but when a local department store had the dvd on sale I picked it up.

What I got for my $10 was a great action movie, complete with nice special effects and zippy one-liners. I thought all of the main characters and the villan were cast well, and I especially liked Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm, or "The Thing".

The special effects were very well-done for the most part, with the Human Torch looking especially good. Although you can definitely tell it's the work of CGI when Reed Richards stretches his limbs across the room or under doors.

Overall this was an entertaining movie and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

We have several children and we are very picky about movies - no bedroom scenes, no inuendos, no bathroom humor, etc. Fantastic Four receives high marks from us! (One exception - bridge scene, you see Invisible girl in bra and underwear for a few seconds. Not necessary to the integrity of the movie). The characters work well together - lots of good-natured humor, concern for others, etc. A good story line. You watch one character develop maturity in his relationships with others. You watch two characters rekindle their love. You watch one character realize there's more important things in life than how you look - one is how you can help another human being. We have a box, so I'm not sure how much cussing there might have been. Movie has no "dead" spots - keeps your attention well. I would recommend this movie for all family members (you might want to fast-forward through girl in bra scene).

As the current wave of digital special effects superhero movies go, the Fantastic Four doesn't match to others in the genre like Spiderman 2, the first X-Men movie, or the recent Batman Begins. Like the X-Men, the F4 are a team, but what's central to the film is the personality dynamics and clashes that occur between its four members, Reed Richards, Susan Storm, her brother Johnny, and Ben Grimm, whose alter egos are respectively the elastic Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, who can also generate force field, the Human Torch whose temperature can go up to a supernova, and the Thing. In the movie, it's the bratty, arrogant, smart-aleck Johnny who comes up with their names.

As the film begins, the four are working for Victor Von Doom of Von Doom Industries. An outer space experiment goes awry as the team and their boss are caught up in a cosmic storm appearing earlier than predicted. Back on Earth, everything seems fine, until they discover their special powers. However, for Ben Grimm, who's transformed into the yellow, rocky behemoth, is less than thrilled, as he stays the way he is, coupled by his wife's leaving him. He is thus the one most eager for Richards to find a cure to their condition, an eagerness than turns to impatience and frustration.

Part of that is due to Johnny, who's carefree, insulting, bratty attitude grates on his nerves. I know-it sure did mine, as I've never seen anyone as obnoxious since Tom Cruise's character in A Few Good Men. In a scene where the Thing crumples Johnny's expensive red Porsche into a compact ball, I mentally raised a fist in the air. "Well done, Thing!" Johnny's the only one for the four who celebrates his condition, and the special effects of him as the Torch are actually laudable. His flaunting attitude causes trouble for the other members, who want to be discrete so they can be left alone to find a cure, and for Doom, for whom the publicity causes his company's decline.

Much of the film focuses on Richards' attempts to reverse their condition, meaning to recreate the cosmic storm in the Baxter building. However, there's also a subplot involving Reed and Susan, who were exes, but Reed was too focused on his work, so Susan drifted off to Victor, who was more a take-charge kind of guy. Their predicament unites them together, as they try to sort out why their relationship ended.

Given Victor's last name, it's clear as to who he eventually becomes, but he too is affected by the aftereffects of the storm, and he turns darker as his stockholders decide to jump ships following the catastrophe.

There is a feeling that too much was being attempted in F4, the romantic subplot, scientific experiment subplot, conflicts within the members, which I found the most interesting thing in the movie, and later with Doom, and the two major action sequences. But at least the Thing's clichéd line "It's clobbering time" is used only once. The ones to watch are Michael Chiklis (Ben Grimm/the Thing), Jessica Alba (Susan Storm/Invisible Girl) for obvious reasons, and despite what I said before, Chris Evans (Johnny Storm), with Julian McMahon (Victor von Doom) being a pale corporate head turned villain.

At least it's better than Daredevil, and hey, in terms of action movies, I've seen worse.

I guess the problem I have with the movie is that while the characters of Ben Grimm/Thing and Johnny Storm/Human Torch are developed pretty well according to the comic books, Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic and Sue Storm/Invisible Girl are thinner than they are in the comics, which is already less three-dimensional than the first two characters. However, the comics always made up for this lack of character development by the sheer magnitude of the plot. Just the size of the machinery in Richards' inner sanctum in the comics was not matched in the movie. What Richards lacked in character depth he made up for with the conspicuous genius of his daily operation. You would forgive him for being impersonal because that's what's expected of such a brilliant mind. Richards in the movie just doesn't exemplify the brilliant stature of the Richards in the comics. He comes off as a nerd who can't get funding. Jessica Alba is a good actress, but playing off of Ioan Gruffudd's paper thin Richards holds her character development back. Lastly, there is Dr. Doom. While Julian McMahon plays the character with the coldness we need to see from the character, his conversion into the villain goes awry because in the comics he was not part of the space mission and did not become who he is because of cosmic rays. Therefore, instead of a megalomaniac bent on world domination, he is a tragic character that loses his mind and goes bad because he's not only power-hungry but a narcissist. Going crazy because he's losing his good looks may be ironic since McMahon is a lead in Nip/Tuck, but it doesn't do justice for the character of Victor Von Doom. Where is Latveria?

In the end, yes, it's a good family movie and pretty good if you're not a comic fan and aware of the plot deviations and character weaknesses. In the end, the first movie of a comic book franchise is always a little rough due to the origins of the superheroes. But Spiderman proved it can be done well, as did Batman Begins. X-men was a much stronger ensemble movie. I hope they do better on a FF sequel.

I can't really think of anything I liked about this one. The best memory I have is the theater popcorn.
Kids might have liked it, but I think even a 5 year old is more advanced than this movie.

Reed Richards is a very talented scientist seeking the funding for a space experiment. Along with his friend and partner Ben Grimm, he goes to businessman Victor Von Doom and manages to get his support. So, Reed and Ben, along with Doom, his partner Sue Storm and her brother Johnny, find themselves aboard Doom's private space station. However an accident will flood the station with cosmic rays and Reed, Ben, Sue and Johnny will gain amazing powers thus becoming the Fantastic Four. But, the four of them aren't the only ones affected by the cosmic rays
An excellent movie that will watch many times.

I just seen this movie and it was Great! Jessica Alba did a great job in it. This is diffently a movie for the family to watch. Lots of action and its very funny!

My son and I like super hero movies in general. As of late they seem very violent or with so much "story" that is doesn't keep his interest. This movie was the exception. I enjoyed it and so did he. It's not too deep or too over the top. It even had some pretty good humor.

At first i heard this movie was boring so my first impression was flashy but bad. but it turned out once you start it, it sucks you right into the movie. right from the beginning you are able to understand it and follow even if you never read the comic. it ending a little quickly but it ends for a great sequal.

I always like the Fantastic Four comics when I was a kid. So although a movie about it would probably never live up to my expectations - this one was good. And it's a fun film to watch. The stars chosen fill in the roles nicely and the effects are good throughout. I've been a Jessica Alba fan for a few years - so of course I liked seeing her again. The movie is good - and the ending sets up an easy sequel.

The Movie was very good. Casting was great. Although it strayed a little from the original story(in the comics), It was still a well spent investment of time.

Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, hits the big screen in a light-hearted and funny adventure. It begins when down-on-his-luck genius Reed Richards has to enlist the financial and intellectual help from former schoolmate and rival Victor Von Doom in order to pursue outer-space research into human DNA. Also on the trip are Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm who's now Doom's employee and love interest; and her hotshot-pilot brother, Johnny Storm. Things don't go as planned, of course, and the quartet becomes blessed--or is it cursed?-with superhuman powers: flexibility, brute strength, invisibility and projecting force fields, and bursting into flame. Meanwhile, Doom himself is undergoing a transformation. Husband Liked the movie, but I found other things to do around the house while he watched it.

It's so bad it takes points away from BATMAN BEGINS. Rabid fans of the comics and animated television series... myself included, was and will be sorely disappointed to see their beloved superheroes ridiculously portrayed, and even worse, directed like wooden idiots on the big screen. For the rest of us, it was pure hell. Get this! Only one of the Fantastic Four is happy to have superpowers. The others grumble and complain. What makes them so fantastic? I’ll never pick up a FANTASTIC FOUR comic book again. Right from the start the movie smells like a stinker because of its Z-grade casting. Worst of all is Julian McMahon, overacting as a Kevin Spacy-ish Dr. Doom.

It looks as if someone tried hard on this film, and then just gave up about halfway through it, or perhaps the studio was afraid of the movie getting too smart and hired someone to dumb it down. In any case, the finished product is riddled with continuity problems, such as a sequence on a bridge during which Reed, Sue and Johnny must creatively break through a crowd to get to the Thing. If Fantastic Four lasted more than a couple of weeks in the theaters, then executives begin to think "sequel". PLEASE, SPARE US THE AGONY!!! I bought into "hellywood" hype, succumbed to the broadcast teasers, and plunked down the bones for it sight unseen. BIG mistake! It's rare that I have NOTHING positive to say about a movie. The ONLY saving grace for this snorefest, in my opinion, is that Sue (Jessica Alba) is quite easy on the eyes. I say, how about just dropping everything and giving poor Thing his own film?

Based on the Marvel comic of the same name the story is pretty well known - radiation changes a group of scientists into superheroes and one supervillain.

This movie has nothing really original or that we have not seen before in countless other superhero movies. The special effects are good and there is eye candy for everyone. This is a good movie for a boring tv night or a lazy weekend afternoon.

It is an Awesome movie, been a Comic collector for the fantastic four for Years so was not disappointed on the movie, worth buying and watching over and over and hope they make a sequel.

This is a good movie, not bad, not great, but good. There were some funny moments and some good effects, good cast. However, as far as comic book movies, this wasn’t my favorite.

Not the best of movies, but not bad either, very watchable, if you like superhero movies in which I do , the movie was kind of short and could use a sequel or two but I find it hard to believe they will be able to pay the big actors more money to come back for a sequel, see problem with using big stars.
if a sequel does develop in which I hope it does I dont see the same actors coming back, which could ruin the 2nd movie if there is one. who knows but ok to watch regardless the kids will like it.

The Fantastic Four was a very good movie. It had lots of action and tension, but there could have been SO MUCH MORE! Doctor Doom could have been far more evil. Why does Sue Storm get bloody noses when she uses her force-field powers? The movie left me unfulfilled and disappointed because it really should have been so much more.

This was overall a pretty good movie. The animation was good, and the storyline kept everyone glued to the tube. I would recommend this movie.

Children and adults alike will enjoy this one. It is funny, full of action a family type movie. My kids loved it. The whole fmaily enjoyed. It was just great

This movie was very good. Unlike what most people are saying. I would say that it is fine for children ages 6 and up. My 6 year old was watching it and he was fine. So enjoy this action packed movie for the whole family.

Marvel has produced many movies in the last couple of years, about half of them have been outstanding and the other have been just watchable. As for the Fantastic Four, The movie is not a bad film. It has great graphics. The cast is good. But as a whole, it could have been better. It is too short and just doesn't give justice to what the fantastic four deserve. Compared to the Hulk, it is better. To Spiderman, it could use some work and to Batman Begins, pales in comparison.

Not what i expected. and i love these kinds of movies. this one was slow and boring in to many spots. the action was way late in the movie. the story line was off and not so great.