“Captain America,” A Good, Disney-esque Action Movie

Steve Rogers is an asthmatic orphan attempting to be all he can be during World War II in “Captain America: The First Avenger” starring Chris Evans playing as the lead role of both Steve Rogers, and later, Captain America. Unfortunately for him, he is rejected by every recruiting office until Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) sees the grit young Rogers possesses. This leads to Rogers becoming the guinea pig for a Super Soldier serum experiment which in turn gives him his powers as Captain America.

He goes from zero to hero and embraces his new role as the purveyor of truth and justice.

Tommy Lee Jones plays Colonel Phillips, Hayley Atwell stars as British Intelligence Agent and love interest Peggy Carter and Hugo Weaving is the films lead villain, Johann Schmidt, otherwise known as the Red Skull. The movie’s directed by Joe Johnson of “Jurassic Park 3” and “Jumanji” fame. Let me break it down.

What Works: The story stays pretty true to the comic, although it takes some liberties that allows for people who are not fans of the comic book to maintain a level of interest. The levels of action are respectable, although you get a feeling that the shield tossing was done primarily to justify the 3D scenes.

Hugo Weaving as the villain is also a good casting call. In fact, he shines when everything else becomes clichéd. Finally, all the stamps of a Marvel movie are here with the Stan Lee cameo and the teaser after the credits stop rolling is set in place. By the way, I am not going to ruin it, but you have to stay for that scene. It is the best one Marvel has rolled out.

What does not work: The studio was nervous about the globe’s reaction to a hero who is vehemently pro-United States and it shows. This movie has Disney’s fingerprints all over it. Captain America spends more time on screen talking up the fact that he is just another kid from Brooklyn that it gets pretty nauseating when the height of the movie focuses on an attack on New York. The revisionist history is beyond belief. Captain America assembles a multiethnic team in order to fight the Nazi wave.

You get a sense that this movie has been Disneyfied for your sensibilities because there are no mentions of Pearl Harbor or genocide for that matter. The thought that a “Coalition of the Willing” could have existed is a bit of a stretch. The fact that there are Viking-laser-shooting Nazis is actually more believable. Secondly, this movie has trouble deciding its own identity. One second you feel as if you are watching “G.I. Joe” and the next second, you are watching “Spider-Man.” In fact, when Steve Rogers gets asked why he is so eager to go fight for his country, he replies that it is because he hates bullies no matter where they are from — no joke.

The Bottom Line: You should watch this movie simply because there really isn’t anything worth watching right now, unless you want to watch the conclusion of the “Harry Potter” franchise for the second, or third time. This movie is simply the beginning of a franchise and a stepping stone for next year’s highly anticipated “Avengers” movie. Furthermore, “Captain America” is not as good as the “Iron Man” movies, but at the same time it is not as bad as this year’s “Thor” offering. I would recommend this movie if you have a friend coming in from out of town and you want to catch something light and breezy before dinner. This is definitely not a date movie. Let’s face it if you have a date, you will probably be at the next door watching “Friends with Benefits.”

Follow Oscar Barajas on Twitter @Oscarcoatl