“The Marvels” is marvellous… once you lower your expectations. It feels like a return to form for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which has been on shaky ground, and delivers a funny and fun film with great balance of humour and heart.

“The Marvels” is an all-new adventure featuring a trio of female superheroes teaming up to save the universe.

When Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) unintentionally kicks off the mind-bending space adventure, the perennial solo artist becomes literally entangled with two newer MCU faces—Jersey City’s local teen hero, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), and scientist/astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), as in the late Maria Rambeau’s daughter and Carol’s estranged niece.

Realizing their powers are entangled, Carol reluctantly teams up with Monica and Kamala to stop the Kree Supremor, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), from unravelling the space-time continuum.

With the recent state of the Marvel movies, it is better to have lower expectations of the quality you’re about to watch.

Many of the recent projects haven’t gelled together as cohesively, and also has introduced way too many plot points and threads that seemingly have no clear path to connecting.

Public opinion on Marvel has also shifted to one of superhero fatigue, and frustration at the “homework” of watching the shows.

On top of that is the toxicity of male fandom who love to hop on the hate train for women-led projects, and their disdain at not the focus in every hero story.

It is a tough space for any franchise to be, but Marvel is having it particularly tough. As the recent entertainment industry strike has also hurt their promotions for the film and the reputation of the studio.

Then we can’t also forget the geopolitics at play as many people are skipping this movie due to their boycotting of Disney, as a result of the frustration of American corporations’ handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

There is a lot of noise, and discussion, surrounding this film, and so it really has an uphill battle, and no matter the result, it will be clouded in negative headlines.

The reality of external issues aside, the movie itself is truly wonderful.

#CaptainMarvel #MonicaRambeau #MsMarvel

Meet #TheMarvels only in theaters November 10. 💫 Get tickets now: https://t.co/fHJB2N3a8y pic.twitter.com/kPHVLdp9vq
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) October 10, 2023

The film is hilarious, and manages to capture the humour that made the first few MCU movies so endearing, while not undercutting the heart of the story.

A large number of those come from not only the written comedy, but the physical comedy too, and many of those moments come from Kamala Khan, and the portrayal of the character by Iman Vellani.

It needs to be said that Iman Vellani is truly one of the best things to happen to the MCU. her role in “The Marvels” manages to elevate her character from her series, and feels like it pays off watching her series because every moment her character appears it is engaging, and her performance is imbued with a lot of emotion, charm and optimism despite facing setbacks and coming to grips with the challenges of being a hero.

The relationship and dynamic of Captain Monica Rambeau and Captain Marvel is fantastic as the familial relationship between them is unpacked to awkward and comedic measure. There is tension and avoidance throughout, but the movie deals with it in a clever way and it all ends up benefiting the film.

The action in the film is purposeful, and it is all told coherently, and in a run-time that doesn’t overstay its welcome or feel like the film lags.

The villian’s motivations also make sense, and while it is a little simplistic, it is still impactful and powerful.

There are many other wonderful moments about the “The Marvels” that could be discussed, but part of the reason why it was so good is because audiences get to discover those moments for themselves.

There is a post-credit scene that is so cool, but I won’t spoilt it here.

While it may not be the exhilarating ride that the Avengers movies are, “The Marvels” is definitely marvellous and fun, and also a little bit silly. It blends and matches each of those things in a skilful way, and still keeps the motives and emotion at a serious and earnest level.

Rating: 7.5/10

“The Marvels” is out in cinemas nationwide