If you DON'T know the Fantastic Four from the comics, you might be somewhat entertained by this picture. However, I didn't enjoy this much-anticipated film. It comes across like a half-hearted effort. If you're going to rely on the strength of brand name recognition, then you should not change that brand very much.

Note to the writer(s): Dr. Doom never had any romantic interest in Sue Storm, and he was not in the spacecraft when the Fantastic Four were altered by cosmic radiation - otherwise it would be the Fantastic Five. Please consult me on future scripts. Thank you. You've turn a unique villan into cardboard cutout. (Someday I've got to see the Roger Corman version of Dr. Doom for some laughs.)

The "origin" story is told, but too much modernization takes place, which leaves it sterile and uninteresting. Not nearly enough thought went into the mundane plot. I have to wonder what would it have been like in the hands of Sam Raimi, director of Spiderman, or Bryan Singer, director of the X-Men?

There had been some talk earlier that Alexis Denisof of the Angel and Buffy TV series might play Reed Richards, but he must have read the script and fled. Too bad. He could have lifted this picture by virtue of the fact that he's a better actor than anyone else in the picture. Oh well... it was a wasted opportunity to make a legendary comic story into a good movie.

UPDATE 2012: 20th Century Fox has announced a "reboot" of the FF franchise. Let's hope they do a better job this time. However; it looks like they've hired some not-very-impressive people to write and direct.