A 'Fantastic' comic book movie

Call me crazy, but sometimes I want my superheroes to act, well, super.\nSometimes I don't want to watch a multi-billionaire lose himself in the confusion of his chosen vigilante path. Sometimes I get tired of hearing Tobey Maguire unconvincingly whine about having both cool spider powers and the hot red-head next door.\nEvery once in a while, I just want to see good guys with cool superpowers beat the bad guys. And there should be some explosions and good-hearted chuckles along the way.\nThe beauty and fun of director Tim Story's "Fantastic Four" comes through its simplicity. In a movie market that has become flooded with comic book flicks it is somewhat refreshing to see a superhero movie that does not take itself too seriously.\nWhat the movie lacks in depth it makes up for with strong, clear characters. And while it has some poor dialogue and is rather predictable, it's still not a bad way to spend a hot summer afternoon.\nThe main strength of this movie is its characters. The beginning of "Fantastic Four" is devoted to trying to bring the viewer up-to-date with the storyline, which is somehow already in progress. Complete characters with full histories are introduced in quick succession before going on some space mission.\nFortunately, by the time they are bombarded by cosmic rays and developing superpowers, director Story has solidly built the characters with actions and dialogue. \nIn the style of the comic book, he foregoes trying to make dramatic changes within all the characters in a short two hours but instead explores the relationships between each and all of the major players.\nFans will for the most part be pleased with the accurate translations of the characters to the big screen. Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic), Jessica Alba (The Invisible Woman) and Chris Evans (The Human Torch) nail the comic characters perfectly. \nThough Michael Chiklis makes an excellent Ben Grimm, his Thing isn't physically large enough. But he earns major props and brings appropriate heart to the role by playing it in person instead of letting it be filled by a computer-generated Muppet.\nDoctor Doom (Julian McMahon) gets watered down in the movie adaptation, however. Like other major Marvel franchises "X-Men" and "Spider-Man," the "Fantastic Four" movie attempts to combine the classic comics with the more modernized, "Ultimate" series. But doing so sadly degrades Doom from a notorious supervillain to more of a tag-along friend that everybody else kind of hates.\nFor the casual viewer, you would want to see "Fantastic Four" for the same reasons you would want to see an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Sure, he won't be nominated for Best Actor, but it is still fun to watch the Governator romp around blowing things up.\nThe same goes for "FF." It's never going to win any Oscars. But what did you expect from a movie whose preview boasts "The Commish" running around in 60 lbs. of orange latex yelling that "it's clobberin' time"?