The Marvels 2023
With the emphasis on streaming now, the line between movies and TV may be blurring a little. This movie, with a character from the Disney Plus series Ms. Marvel, is more like Marvel Lite. The Marvel series haven't been great and I stopped watching Ms. Marvel after an episode or two. It seemed kind of goofy and as much a coming of age immigrant comedy series that I didn't have patience for. So that gets blended in with Captain Marvel which wasn't my favorite Marvel movie either, though by current standards it was decent enough. The result is The Marvels which looked bad from the previews, hasn't gotten good reviews, and fell far short on ticket sales its first weekend. Still, Marvel Lite can work because full Marvel can just be a little much and it isn't like those entries have been that solid lately. Still, part of this movie is an origin story for Ms. Marvel, the teenage daughter of Pakistani immigrants in New Jersey, and that is kind of fun. Also the third Marvel here, Monica Rambeau, the daughter of Rebecca Rambeau of Captain Marvel who was Captain Marvel's wingman before she got magic powers. I forgot where her origin was, but she was in another Disney Plus series, Wandavision, and was shown as a young girl in Captain Marvel.
The plot is pretty straightforward as a crazy evil person wants to go around destroying planets. They have a reason for it which involves some previously unrevealed history about Captain Marvel. So that is interesting enough and then you get a little more than the usual amount of situational comedy as the three Marvels keep changing into each other. There is also a larger role for the orange tabby cat, Goose, who is actually a fearsome alien monster, again played mostly for laughs. It isn't challenging or particularly meaningful, but it is mostly entertaining for what it is. Acting performances are okay and fortunately not much is required. This is definitely lesser Marvel, but not terrible if you keep your expectations low.
Written: 14 Nov 2023