Thor Fails To Bring The Thunder

Picking fractal "cookies" for these reviews is sometimes quite difficult: lucky for me there are times when it is simplicity itself.  All I had to to was run over to the "Mythology" series in my fractal gallery and grab Thor for my review of--wait for it--THOR!  So, on with the review.
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I'd better start this review with a bit of a confession: although I'm a comic-book fan, I've never been particularly enamored of Marvel's version of Thor.  Not exactly sure why: maybe it was the costume or maybe the "Odinson" just seemed too powerful for the rest of the Avengers.  Add to it a crowded theater (with way too many screaming kiddies) and I wasn't expecting a lot.  Still, Robyn wanted to go so we went.  What I got was about what I expected.
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Plot or character wise, Thor doesn't cover any new ground: the eponymous title character begins as a brash young man more ready to fight than think.  After being manipulated into starting a war he is cast out of Asgard and forced to learn humility to regain his power (at just the right moment to save the day), developing a new relationship along the way.  Chris Hemsworth certainly has the look to pull off Thor and doesn't come off looking too silly (given what he has to work with).  Anthony Hopkins comes off curiously light weight as Odin.  Loki (thanks to some bad script decisions) is a complete mess with muddled motives and conflicting emotions that make no sense at all: Tom Hiddleston has anger and gravitas to spare but fails to bring charm or a sens of fun to the character (which, IMHO, Loki desperately needs to make him half-way believable.)  Meanwhile on Earth Natalie Portman gets shafted by the script: her Jane Foster is supposed to be a noted astrophysicist but her character is mostly reduced to being a sideline cheerleader and mooney damsel.  Worse, she gets upstaged by sidekick Darcy (Kat Denning) who should be arrested for scene stealing (and she does it every time she's on camera).  Stellan Skaarsgaard as Dr. Eric Selvig comes across as the Deus ex Machina who serves no purpose other than to get the writers out of awkward situations when their re-working of the characters paints them into a corner.  Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson from the Iron Man franchise) is along to provide continuity and there's a brief, uncredited appearance by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. 
Also uncredited is Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye (who will be in next year's Avengers movie).  Kudos to Robyn for spotting this: I completely missed it.
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Yes, there are big battles in plenty and the FX are in line with what you'd expect for a summer blockbuster (even though they cover no new ground).  We didn't see the movie in 3D and didn't feel like we missed anything by seeing it the "old fashioned' way.  Asgard gets a "Sci Fi" makeover (and thus avoid pesky theological questions) that looked OK but didn't thrill me.  I was a bit surprised to see a black Heimdall and one of the "Warriors Three" as an Asian but it worked in context.  Still, if you can get past the contrivances of the script you'll probably have a good time.
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Thor is definitely one step (or more) below the Iron Man movies in quality but at least it has the virtue of a fairly short running time.   The movie had a huge opening weekend but I'll be interested to see what the "drop off" will be next week.  Still, there's enough fun to make Thor worth a look (although you really won't miss a lot if you wait for the DVD (which should be out some time next month).
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FINAL GRADE: B-