No, they WERE kids
I think both superhero movies and sequel/prequel movies have really stepped it up this year. They really have placed the creation of both in good hands. There is almost a science of putting suttle nods to the original that fans will eat up and keeping it accessible enough that new comers can relate. First Class does a great job of that including appearances of mutants from earlier films that made me smile.
The advantage that First Class has over Marvel movies that are made by Marvel Studios is they don't need to promote upcoming films. It only has to worry about the movies that came before it in the series and even then I think it doesn't take that task to seriously. I think Marvel Studio films are made worse with the fact they try to cram in so many Marvel U characters. There is a line between immersive and annoying (and I think Hawkeye crosses that line).
The setup of First Class is also not very typical of a superhero movie in that it's set in the sixties and it's not typical of an X-Men movie because it isn't all about Wolverine. It's got a both fun and strange vibe that I can really get behind and it really shows the flexibility of superhero movies (not to mention it's really cool to see a Cold War movie that doesn't treat Russians like conniving jerks). It also deals with the dichotomy of being a mutant more maturely than any film has yet. You really see how everyone takes it differently and how even though they might be doing terrible things it's because they're scared or they feel they have to. It's really cool to see the difference in how mutants are portrayed in the first X-Men movie and this one. It really feels like going from a two dimensional character to a real person. The plot itself has it's ups and downs. I really like the beginning of the movie and the team building parts but near the end it seemed like things got a little to crazy (in the movies defense all moves were based on the characters so nothing seemed to far fetched).
The acting for the most part is really good. I was surprised by some of the actors they got for even small or cameo roles. I think characters like Havok, Azazel, and Riptide seemed a little flat but you really need to consider how much time you spend on each character and I think these three are the least interesting.
Overall I though X-Men First Class was great. It's nice to have a Marvel movie that isn't just an advertisement for the Avengers (don't get me wrong I did enjoy Thor too). Although it was a prequel to the movies that came before instead of a chance to achieve comic book canon I ended up not really caring. I had enough fun with this movie that it didn't matter. A cool film, check it out.
