The special effects are a little cheesy and the characters are mostly one dimensional, but that only seems to add to the old fashioned flavor of this comic book come-to-life.
Dr. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), his old flame, beautiful Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), her frisky brother Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) are at billionaire Victor Von Doon's (Julian McMahon) space ship to perform some tests of a star storm. But, the storm comes early and zaps each of them with bolts of radiation that alters their DNA, giving them fantastic powers.
Susan becomes invisible, which can be fun if only she can shed her clothes fast enough, her brother combusts and can fly when he becomes hot enough, Dr. Reed has the ability to stretch to unbelievable lengths, as he demonstrates by reaching across the bathroom hallway to get some toilet paper or when he stretches his arm under a door to open a lock on the other side. They look perfectly normal until their super powers kick in.
Only poor Ben, whose whole body permanently changes to a big stone-like Hulk, is unhappy about the outcome. Called "The Thing" he moans and groans his responses and clunks around on enormous feet. His wife is disgusted by his appearance and to disguise himself while in public, he dons a large raincoat and brimmed hat, which makes him look like an out-of-sorts Broderick Crawford.
The four perform some heroic feats, putting them into the public spotlight. Johnny seems to like this the best, because it can get him more attention from girls. They're four good guys who do good things. Only Von Doom, who also changes molecularly becomes an evil guy.
After seeing the superior Batman Begins, you might find yourself comparing the two films about super heroes. But, don't short change this one, as its lighthearted fun and Chiklis' "Thing" is worth the price of admission alone!
