The Fantastic Four: First Steps

It feels nice when an act of kindness. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is an act of kindness that makes your day. It leaves you feeling nice. Makes you want to smile. 

In the film, the titular team – consisting of Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben – receives a warning from the cosmic being, the Silver Surfer, that Galactus, a massive space person that devours worlds, is coming to consume the Earth. The team voyages across space to meet Galactus, who tells them that he'll spare Earth for Reed and Sue's unborn child, Franklin. The four, refusing to give him their child, must devise a way to save their home planet while also protecting Franklin's life. 

On Earth, the four live in a '60s retro-futuristic New York City, filled with wonderful equipment. The tech is delightful, with their rocketship and lab computers coming in interesting ovals and other curvy forms. Describing the set's traits or listing every noteworthy set detail is a verbal applause to the art department. 

The team's plan to defeat Galactus is interesting. Instead of the Fantastic Four just thinking about how to beat up Galactus, they creatively think and assemble a plan where they build not just practice punching. The plan requires a step-by-step process, and the film shows that when an obstacle arises in their planning, they take action to come up with an idea that solves the problem caused by that obstacle. 

The characters work well together. Sue states, "[family is] about fighting for something bigger than yourself. It's about connecting to something bigger than yourself". Reed and Sue stress about Franklin, even before the Galactus situation. Johnny forms an extensive relationship with the Silver Surfer. It comedically starts with Johnny hitting on the Sufer, but leads to a more compelling and important matter. The characters say their first names over their superhero names. The theme of family and how they all work together is nice.