Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer is fluffy superhero cinema. It stars a bunch of pretty people (even the blind woman and chromium fellow are hot), packs in a ton of special effects, and cleans itself up nice and tidy in the end, reaffirming to any discerning viewer that nothing terrible ever really happens in movies like these. The good guys always win, the bad guys always lose, thank you for playing, now hand over your money and go home before we kick you out.

The entire group is back to defend the world from the oncoming devourer of worlds, Galactus. Galactus’ harbinger, Norrin Radd — also known as the Silver Surfer — has begun his routine of digging giant holes all over the globe when our heroes’ services are enlisted by the government to investigate and stop whatever’s going down. After the group joins up with the government, the rest of the story becomes pretty predictable, following a familiar formula we’ve all seen time and time again: The team’s first attempt to stop the Surfer ends in failure, the dependability of one of the four is called into question, yadda yadda yadda, the questionable member seeks redemption in the end by nearly sacrificing their life for the greater good.

The acting, direction, and effects work is all pretty standard. Nothing exactly feels “phoned in,” but it’s obvious nothing was done to really push this film above and beyond the expectations set by its predecessor. The explosions are grand, the world-eating is fun, and the Silver Surfer looks nice and silvery. As far as the acting is concerned, I’m still not buying the relationship angle between Ioan Gruffudd’s Reed Richards and Jessica Alba’s Sue Storm, but my belief in their utter lack of on-screen chemistry may just be jealously talking.

What Ioan and Jessica lack in chemistry, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis more than make up for with their own as antagonistic buddies/teammates, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm. These guys are fun to watch, and while much of their relationship is childish at best, they never cease to entertain. What’s unfortunate here is that this talented cast isn’t given much to do. Each character is treated as a one-note pony, behaving in ways that only personify their single basic characterization: Reed is nerdy, Sue is responsible, Johnny is obnoxious, and Ben is grumbly. While I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect every superhero be given the same treatment we’ve seen with Spider-man or the X-Men, I also don’t think it unreasonable to expect more than we’ve gotten thus far with this franchise.

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer is not a bad movie — it’s quite entertaining at moments — but it’s ultimately an instantly forgettable experience. Once the end credits begin to roll, you’ll be off your duff and looking for something else to do or take in, spending little to no time lingering on the “greatness” or this movie. I would recommend this movie to families with kids, fans of the first film, and Jessica Alba fans — ‘cause let’s face it; she’s downright smoking here. If none of these things apply to you, however, you can feel no shame in missing this one entirely.