Taking all that worked well in 2015's jaunty, good-humored "Ant-Man" while pushing it to the next level, "Ant Man and the Wasp" is the ideal elixir for viewers still grappling with the existentially weighty events of "Avengers: Infinity War." This consistently inventive sequel is goofy in spirit but treats its story and characters with the earnestness they deserve, a juggling of lightness and gravity aced by returning director Peyton Reed (2008's "Yes Man") and writers Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers (2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming") and Paul Rudd & Andrew Barrer (2014's "Haunt") & Gabriel Ferrari. In terms of pure fun, this twentieth installment within the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes close to matching 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy" and 2017's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" at the top of the heap.
Former-burglar-turned-inadvertent-superhero Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is three days away from completing his house-arrest sentence for assisting the Avengers and disobeying the Sokovia Accords. It should be easy enough—he has a drum set, a karaoke machine, and John Green's tearjerker novel "The Fault in Our Stars" to pass the time—but scientist Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hank's daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) soon come calling after Scott experiences a sudden vision of Hope's mother, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), presumably killed thirty years earlier when she shrunk to a subatomic level and became trapped in the time-and-space-defying Quantum Realm. Hank has always assumed his wife was lost forever, but maybe not. When Scott went subatomic three years earlier and managed to return, it was all the hope Hank needed to dedicate his time to a machine built for traveling to and from the Quantum Realm.
See Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com. for full review
