'Ant-Man and the Wasp' review roundup: Low-stakes fun

Ant-Man and the Wasp, starring Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp, has received a whole lot of praise for its refreshingly light plot and comedy but fell short for some for being a little too low-stakes.

Mashable's own Angie Han called the movie the perfect chaser after the intense emotional journey that was Infinity War.

Here's what critics thought of Ant-Man and the Wasp:

It's a comedic powerhouse

Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter:

It's hard to say which is the most lightweight, evanescent and inconsequential of the bunch — Ant-Man, the Wasp or Ant-Man and the Wasp. But while pondering this conundrum for two hours, it becomes increasingly difficult not to notice that this latest entry in the unstoppable Marvel Studios takeover of the world is probably the most amusing film the company has made since the Kevin Feige reign began a decade ago.

Susana Polo, Polygon:

Director Peyton Reed and crew find real joy in the absurd potential of shrinking as a gimmick in their second, less disrupted-in-pre-production outing. Where Ant-Man mostly used shrinking to make the tiny into huge environments, The Wasp does so much more. Suitcase-sized buildings, dog-sized ants, door-sized salt shakers, a garage of real cars kept inside a Hotwheels case and more. One entire scene appears to exist simply for the delight of making funny situations out of Scott accidentally getting stuck at about the size of a toddler.

Ant-Man and The Wasp feels like the first of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to really lean into the wildness of comic book super science, in the same way that Thor: Ragnarok was the first to lean into the style of Jack Kirby and Guardians of the Galaxy was the first to lean into the cosmic. If it hasn’t been clear yet: Ant-Man and the Wasp is the funniest movie Marvel has made yet.

The characters are great

Brian Truitt, USA Today:

While Ant-Man's technically “the star,” this is most definitely the Wasp’s movie to own, and the smirking, enjoyably no-nonsense role fits Lilly well. It's all romantic tension and witty banter between Scott and Hope, who needles him about his semi-Avenger status: When he gets stuck the size of a kindergartener, she chides him, “If only Cap could see you now.” Her verbal jabs pack as much punch as her fighting ones, and after spending the first movie with her as a capable woman yearning to be a superhero, watching Wasp finally take flight and foil bad guys with a ginormous Hello Kitty Pez dispenser is a cathartic blast.

Michael Rougeau, GameSpot:

Ant-Man and the Wasp introduces a couple of new villains in the forms of Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost, who stalks the heroes in hopes of stealing their secret lab, and Walton Goggins' Sonny Burch, a black market merchant who decides he wants the quantum tech for himself. Goggins is his typical hilariously sleazy self, while John-Kamen's more overtly dramatic performance fits her character.

This film (mostly) stands alone

Caitlin Petrakovitz and Eric Franklin, CNET:

As predicted by many around the interwebs, AM&TW actually takes place slightly before the ending events of Infinity War. We know this because there are *way* more people in the world than there would be after that film (you know, because half of them haven't been disappeared yet). But unlike the recent Avengers film, we're not really worried about the fate of these characters (...yet). And you're not left feeling like it's a super-sized episode of Westworld that forces you to keep all the characters straight.

Susana Polo, Polygon:

Its connections to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are merely a light caress. The non-Avengers Marvel movies have been leaning that way ever since Captain America: Civil War faded to the rear-view mirror, but with Ant-Man and The Wasp taking place in San Francisco, not in space or Wakanda or Kamar-Taj, the separation is all the more noticeable. And after the drama of Infinity War, it’s feels ... refreshing.

It might be little too light

Darren Franich, Entertainment Weekly:

Anyhow, there’s one droll visual: Dr. Pym has a gigantic laboratory, a huge multi-level warehouse space — which he shrinks down to carry-on size and pulls as a suitcase. (Make your own joke here about Bay Area real estate.) The occasional lightness of Ant-Man and the Wasp feels unique to this sub-franchise. Very little is really at stake here, beyond the freaky possibility that Paul Rudd will play Michelle Pfeiffer more than Michelle Pfeiffer does. (It’s a quantum entanglement thing.) But the forced whimsy is a pose, a defensive posture, a way to excuse all the clockwork plot mechanics and halfhearted characterizations.

Ant-Man and the Wasp arrives in theaters July 6.