What better way is there to celebrate the big Fourth of July holiday weekend than taking a trip? Instead of schlepping your luggage to the airport or train station, just head on over to your favorite multiplex and grab your ticket for one last trip to the “Marvel Movie-verse”. Well the last one for 2018. The year’s barely halfway spent, and the third film’s release will have to tide fans over for eight months when CAPTAIN MARVEL makes her (that’s right) feature debut. Now in February we witnessed the wonders of Wakanda in BLACK PANTHER and in late April we were dazzled by the epic galactic fight to stop Thanos in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (really part one). After that massive movie event, perhaps it might be the time to go smaller. A whole lot smaller, in fact. Three years ago many film buffs (including myself, to be honest) were poised for Marvel Studios’ first box office dud. This flick showcased one of the earliest Marvel comic book heroes (a founding member of the Avengers), but over the years he had become a punchline (particularly in a famous SNL superhero party sketch from 1979). Plus there was turmoil behind the camera as the director who developed the film was ousted and replaced. And the lead was best known for “rom-coms” and as a lovable goofball in several “indie” flicks. Yet somehow ANT-MAN was a embraced by critics and film goers. He even returned a year later for the big airport battle in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. Now finally he’s back, and as teased in the first film’s mid-credits scene, he’s got a petite partner, as part of the titanic tiny team of ANT-MAN AND THE WASP.

First thing to know is that this adventure takes place before the evens of the big Infinity War. Now, as mentioned in that film, Scott Lang AKA Ant-Man and Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye both took plea deals for breaking the Sokovia Accords by helping Captain America (the guys are both fathers and didn’t want to be fugitives from the law and their families). So Scott (Paul Rudd) is back in San Francisco and under house arrest at the place he shares with old prison pal Luis (Michael Pena). There just a couple days left in his sentence, but nerdy FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) continues to hover, even as Scott is visited by his adorable daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) and his supportive ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) and her even more supportive new hubby (he loves Scott) Paxton (Bobby Cannavale). Scott keeps busy, mainly by being a consultant to the private security business he started with Luis and partners Dave (T.I.) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian). Still, he’s haunted by dreams and memories from his first outing as Ant-Man, especially his descent into the sub-atomic micro-universe known as the “Quantum Realm”. After one nightmare, in which he seems to be looking through the eyes of a mystery woman, Scott makes a risky call via “burner phone” to Henry “Hank” Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who are on the run for providing Scott with the tech and suit. Shortly after leaving a message, Scott blacks out after an insect bite and wakes up in the secret lab of Henry and Hope (they figured out a way to trick the FBI). Hank believes that Scott has a connection to his wife (and Hope’s mom) Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), who was lost in the Realm decades ago. He’s convinced that she’s still alive and that they can track her down and bring her back . But the rescue window will soon close, so they must finish his new invention. They need equipment that can only be purchased from shady underground tech merchant Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins). But things go bad when Burch insists that he partner with the Pyms before he hands over the gizmo. Luckily Hope brought her tricked out Wasp suit complete with wings and blaster ‘stings”. Ah, but then things go from bad to much, much worse when Ava, AKA the mysterious Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) materializes (literally) to snatch that tech. Thus begins a wild three-way battle and chase between the Ghost, Burch, and “Team Pym” to acquire the device before time runs out on Janet, and the FBI pounces on Scott as his “home/prison” sentence expires.

Of course, the film’s worth rests on whether audiences will root for Scott to triumph. With Rudd’s seemingly effortless charm, that’s not a concern. Once again, he’s the ultimate ‘every-guy”, a conman/clown with a heart of gold, dealing with science concepts “way above his pay grade”. Not cool like Tony Stark or stern and stoic like the “dark knight”, just a fella wanting to make up for lost time with his kid. His partner Hope (the Wasp) as played by Lilly is closer to the standard no-nonsense action hero. She puts up a sturdy emotional wall between herself and Scott (their budding romance from the first flick has long since “played out”), but she softens a touch as Lilly then shows us Hope’s “inner tot” as she nears the “mother and child reunion” she’s desired for decades. As for her papa, Douglas is still the gruff curmudgeon, but now he’s more of the hero (donning his own tech suit), a man on mission trying to save the love of his life. But Scott still gets under his skin, thinking that his union with Captain America to be a betrayal (“Ask me first, before running off with my stuff”). Their main adversary is more complex that most super-villains. John-Kamen is deadly and determined, but also tragic as her powers leave her in agony as they shorten her life, reminding us of Spider-Man’s sometimes sympathetic baddies like Dr. Octopus and the Sandman. And surprisingly she’s a bit sultry and seductive particularly in a scene in which she questions a captured Scott. Oh, and she’s got a past association with Pym, as does another new addition to the franchise, Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Bill Foster. He’s an academic who worked with (more like butted heads with) Pym in his old S.H.I.E.L.D. days. The two screen vets are terrific sparring partners as Fishburne exudes a smooth, icy, smart demeanor. Then there’s the third wheel of the “tech triangle” with Goggins as a pompous high-class fence who’s not nearly as suave as he believes he is (he aspires to be a Bond foe, but wouldn’t even stand a chance against Maxwell Smart).

It’s a G-G-Ghost!! The comic book version is on the right of the film’s villain

As for the returning supporting players and comic co-stars, Pena is still a scene-stealer as Scott’s motor-mouthed BFF. Pena wrings countless laughs by mangling old adages and, reprising a crowd-pleaser, as he recounts past events in his own distinctive vocal pattern. And T.I. is “too cool for the room” once more as the enigmatic hustler Dave. But Dastmalchian, with his Lugosi-like accent, has one of the funniest gags when he encounters the Ghost. After Scott describes her abilities, Kurt tells him that she is the living embodiment of the “boogyman” stories his Eastern European “grandmater” spooked him with as a boy. The moment when he sees Ava, his eyes widen as he says in a quiet gasp, “Baba-Jaga”, well it just had me rolling. Also hysterical is the talented Park as the socially awkward, “by the book” Woo, who thinks Scott is cool and struggles to hide it. He clashes with team Scott several times, as when Greer’s Maggie insists, “This is harrassment, you can’t do this”, as her police detective hubby Paxton, played with energy by Cannavale, meekly shakes his head, as if to say, “Yes honey, he can”. Fortson is endearing and cute, without being cloying or precious. The best addition to the growing franchise is the luminous, dynamic Ms. Pfeiffer as the nurturing Earth (or “micro-Earth”) mother. In recent years her screen appearances have been sporatic, so it’s great news that she’s now a part of the Marvel movies as Wasp 1.0.

Returning director Peyton Reed proves that his action storytelling skills in the first film were not a fluke. He’s had a knack for comedy, but he truly keeps “all the plates spinning” as the guide to this script penned by Rudd himself along with an expert quartet of writers. While the original outing balanced the basic superhero origin story with a sprightly OCEANS 11-style heist, they set their sights a bit higher aiming for a comic caper chase farce mixing elements of the first PINK PANTHER, HEAT, BULLITT (yes, they careen down that twisty SF street while constantly changing size), and (dare I say it) IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD with its scrambling comic cast.. Plus Douglas’s Hank is inching more toward those wacky scientists from the classic 60’s Disney comedies (could Flubber be part of the formula for those perplexing Pym Particles) with his whimsical creations. And it’s refreshing that the planet, or the whole universe, isn’t hanging in the balance though the emotional stakes (we’re comin’ fer’ ya’, ma) are still pretty high (Pym’s gizmos could wreck havoc in the wrong hands). This flick’s often lighthearted tone may be the perfect antidote to what some media folks are calling “superhero fatigue”. Though often tiny in stature, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP tower above most of the big, noisy blockbusters crowding the multiplex. I guess charming entertainment can come in the  smallest of packages.

4.5 Out of 5