Back in the late ‘70s, MAD magazine ran a feature by Sergio Aragonés called “A MAD Look at Superheroes,” one strip of which depicted Mr. Reed Richards of The Fantastic Four using his stretchable-arm abilities to retrieve toilet paper from the adjoining stall.

For what it’s worth, the FANTASTIC FOUR movie uses that joke, against all better judgment. The same can be said for having Dr. Doom appropriate Donald Trump’s APPRENTICE catchphrase just seconds before zapping Sue Storm with an electric jolt (“Sue … you’re fired!”) or for the utter illogic behind having an attractive woman venture out onto the big city streets at night wearing only a slinky nightgown. And just how does Johnny Storm acquire a vanity license plate – reading “TORCH’D,” no less – when he’s been confined indoors?

And yet, despite all of these groan-inducing moments, I found FANTASTIC FOUR to be pretty enjoyable. Many will hate it, but c’mon, they’re adapting a comic book here; the loosey-goosey spirit and light comic tone are appropriate.

The film is basically the FF’s origin story, with four astronauts encountering a cosmic storm in space that gives them individual super powers. Reed Richards (KING ARTHUR’s Ioan Gruffudd – no, that’s not a typo) develops the aforementioned rubbery limbs and appendages, girlfriend Sue Storm (SIN CITY stripper Jessica Alba) acquires invisibility, her brother Johnny (CELLULAR’s Chris Evans) can turn into a fireball and fly, and their pal Ben Grimm (THE SHIELD’s Michael Chiklis) is transformed into a walking pile of orange rocks.

As Reed tries to discover a way to reverse these abilities, the four of them fight and bicker with one another. Johnny uses his newfound fame to pick up chicks, while Ben grows angry after his wife leaves him. The quartet has to put all that aside, however (and use the names Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing), when money man Victor Von Doom, the fifth person on their space expedition, has his skin turn into a metallic alloy at the same time his corporation goes belly-up from the failed mission, and decides to take it all out on the city in which they live.

(Aside: Ben Grimm finds new love with a blind girl, and there’s more than a hint that they enjoy carnal pleasures with one another. How is this possible? Wouldn’t he absolutely rip her genitals like a mortar and pestle?)

I suspect many will hate FANTASTIC FOUR’s mix of dysfunctional family antics and special-effects spectacle. It’s not as unified or self-assured as SPIDER-MAN or X-MEN. Yet it’s also not downbeat as HULK, so I’ve gotta give it credit for that. Get past the occasional cringe-worthy scene and just enjoy an easy, breezy, unchallenging comic-book movie. The main reason it works is because all four of the FANTASTIC team are likeable characters, made all the more likeable by the actors. But Julian MacMahon of NIP/TUCK makes for a terrible Dr. Doom, overacting the part in a manner that suggests he modeled his performance after Roger Corman’s deservedly infamous, never-released FANTASTIC FOUR flick from 1994.

In case you’re wondering, my favorite scene is where Alba is in her underwear.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2005 at 7:58 am and is filed under DVD Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.