@nwithan8 I absolutely don't consider any of the shows as required watching to understand the two younger main characters. I didn't watch Ms. Marvel going in and WandaVision was a pretty long time ago, to the point I forgot until the witch hex was mentioned. That said, the Captain Marvel movie provides a lot of background for the two characters with a shared background and some flashbacks, or preferably more dialogue about it, would've done well. But it was nowhere near as bad as you portray it.
I agree on the rest, it was all… so generic. It wasn't horrible as far as movies go, but it wasn't great, which means that your enjoyment depends on whether you can let go and just enjoy the ride. We've had similar plots before and while history will repeat itself, it doesn't make for great television if you recycle the Kree from Agents of SHIELD and Guardians of the Galaxy but with an even less fleshed out antagonist in charge. I think it's a fine movie if you're just looking to be entertained. But if this was 2016 and we were all still kind of hyped about the MCU, it would've been a letdown.
That said, they changed Captain Marvel for the better. She finally learned how to emote and they tried to enrich her character, which was nothing more than a Mary Sue character in the previous movies, which made her boring. She was so damn perfect from start to finish without going through any hardships and character development that nobody could relate to her beyond her being female representation (which was sorely lacking back then). This movie tried to fix that by simply skipping the start and end of her character arc, indicating she's going through some stuff that some future movie might flesh out, and I'm not sure that worked, but it's better than ignoring the problem altogether. I agree about the virtual lack of character arcs, I don't think this movie did any of the four main female characters justice (including the superficial villain here), let alone old man Nicholas (though I don't dislike him growing soft as he grows old). The lack of any memorable scenes really drives that point home, despite no lack of flashy fight scenes.
I did enjoy the chemistry between the main characters, like I said Captain Marvel learned about human emotions, then met a mildly cringy but very likeable fangirl and a grown apart but not overacting hurt niece and their interactions worked well. Maybe they could've pulled off a high quality movie if Marvel demanded higher quality work of its writers, maybe hire some who know how to write a good story with better pacing. I think the movie needed more time and a much better balanced pacing, because it fell still in the middle without being intriguing or particularly enriching.
In summary: I had no expectations and enjoyed it for what it was, but it has little rewatch value.
Shout by Nate HarrisBlockedParent2023-11-15T08:40:43Z
Had there been any semblance of quality control at Marvel, they would have realized this movie was unfit for cinematic release.
Constructing a movie that requires hours of Disney+ homework to understand not one, but two main characters who have never been introduced into the cinematic universe before is not conducive to a good viewing experience.
Plot feels flimsy, sloppy and chopped to hell, character arcs are non-existent, and Captain Marvel in particular is written as a completely different character from her first film. Third act is contrived and on auto-pilot.