Audrey Beall

All I can say is, I'm very disappointed. I was patiently waiting for another Captain Marvel movie, and the MCU just had to ruin it, like every other Marvel movie released lately. The entire movie felt shallow and it wasn't as serious as it probably needed to be; a lot of the humor was cringey and didn't feel like it belonged to Marvel. When the thing ended, I was literally like "That can't be it!" because it was a very messy conclusion and there wasn't enough serious action throughout. It sure fell short of my expectations---not that I had high ones to begin with, after reading all the reviews. I did think that some visual effects were pretty cool, and there was some actual relatable humor here and there, and Kamala certainly helped the situation a bit. However it had a jumbled storyline, and you could tell that the writer was running out of ideas. I literally had to read a summary beforehand so I could actually understand what was going on. The scene where Carol, Monica and Kamala arrive at Aladna, the planet where people speak through song, was probably the epitome of a Disney musical. I actually couldn't believe my eyeballs when everyone started singing this welcome song that made me think of Cinderella, Aladdin, Frozen, and The Little Mermaid all at once. And don't get me started on the point where magical pixie dust rains down on Carol and she's suddenly in a dress, singing that Aladna is in danger like some wannabe musical on steroids. I think that Disney might have pitched in here, because I have never seen the MCU allow such an embarrassing moment in their movies before. I honestly think this movie had potential, if it wasn't for the unnecessary "comedy" scenes. I thought that having Carol, Monica, and Kamala's powers entangled was a good idea, and it definitely could have made for some pretty cool areas in the movie that would have created some profound wow factors. But the whole thing was terribly underwhelming and only felt like half a movie because of how quickly things were "resolved". My last complaint is that Captain Marvel is supposed to be an OP superhero, and you can easily see that during some points, like when she flies into the core of Hala's sun to revive it. But when she's actually fighting the villain, she can hardly find her footing, and you really wonder why she's suddenly so weak. It was just aggravating the whole time and definitely not worth seeing in the actual theaters; I waited until it started streaming on Disney+. Overall, a big flop, and I am very sad about the way things went. I hope the MCU can get their act together again so they don't go completely bankrupt over flop movies. I recommend watching the Loki seasons instead, they're much more entertaining and don't leave plot holes everywhere. 2.5/5

I watched this a while ago, but I'm deciding to finally write a review about it because I scrolled through my "Recently Watched" section in Disney+ and cringed so hard I thought I damaged a nerve. Chaos at its finest, let's just say that I was genuinely excited for the return of Ant-Man, because I knew Paul Rudd wouldn't fail to disappoint me with his impeccable humor. And that's literally what the two stars are for: the real humor every now and then along with the interesting effects. But like every other movie released in 2023, it was yet another fail. Marvel is going to go bankrupt if they keep this up. And, judging from the other fails like Thor: Love and Thunder and The Marvels, the MCU is plummeting fast. I've always been loyal to Marvel, but lately I've been smh at their latest releases. I thought that bringing Bill Murray into this mess was a fatal mistake, mostly because he didn't seem to fit his part well and he was just a giant cringe wad the whole time. But no hate to Murray; he's a very likable actor and extremely funny to say the least. I just thought he was too iconic to be in such a mortification of a movie. Cassie Lang's character is no joke the epitome of the "quirky teenage girl turned superhero" trope. She seems so superficial throughout the whole thing and definitely adds an extra layer of unnecessary cringe to the movie. And don't get me started on Darren. I can't even begin to explain my thoughts in an organized manner on this---but holy mother of lemon meringue pie, what was even the point? This has to be the stupidest thing I've ever seen in the MCU. I know MODOK is technically iconic from the Marvel comics, but really, this just made the movie ten times worse. He just seemed irrelevant the whole time and definitely an opportunity for people to create more dank memes, which I guess is the only good outcome of this. Anyway, it was just unorganized and crazy and had me scratching my head the whole time. It's like Marvel wanted to avoid having a simple cliche plot and make it overly complicated to the point where I had to hop on YouTube afterward to get a thoroughly explained summary. It felt like it was just dragging on and on, trying to get somewhere and then---what a surprise---everything goes wrong. So yeah, after about 30 minutes wondering what the heck is going on, it kind of gets boring. The MCU better start listening to the people and valuing opinions on movie ideas before actually diving into the funds, just for the sake of their money and ours and for the chance that they could start picking things up again.

This movie was probably one of the better I've seen in 2023, which have all been ultimate fails. I thought that it was pretty fun and entertaining, with some comedy relief and plenty of action, but I think the thing that kind of took away from the GotG charm is the animal cruelty in this movie. Some scenes are not for the faint of heart; seeing a bunch of mutilated animals being experimented on is extremely disturbing and definitely gave me the feeling that I was going to have nightmares. While the movie was genuinely heartfelt in some moments, I found myself crying more at the scenes that flashed back to Rocket's backstory which, in the movie's defense, was something we did need input on, HOWEVER it could have been displayed differently so that it wouldn't be so disturbing. And I've never been bothered by violence in movies before, but I think most of us can agree that seeing animal cruelty in a well-loved franchise will definitely make you want to brainwash your mind with some goodhearted cartoons afterward. Literally what I did, no joke. Another thing that was sad and disappointing was the relationship between Peter and Gamora. I just couldn't really see Gamora taking that route, and I was just downright upset that they didn't get back together because I did like their dynamic in the first two movies and how Peter slowly gained her trust and made her a friendlier person overall. But their personalities were definitely different in this movie, mostly because Gamora came back and had no recollection of their relationship and Peter couldn't stop getting drunk over her. So I guess the only truly likable thing about this movie was the genuine comedy here and there, the effects and the action. I'm a generally optimistic person over the MCU, but lately it's been going downhill and I'm not sure if it's ever going to get better.