Paul Rudd does not immediately leap to mind when one thinks of superhero casting, but then neither did Michael Keaton, who made a decent Batman. Anyway, the cornball backstory of this cliché-ridden Marvel second-stringer involves an ex-con trying to be a better dad to his daughter. Because of the nature of his crimes and his unique skillset—he was a cat burglar—he is recruited by a genius inventor (Michael Douglas) who was ousted from his own company by those wishing to weaponize—yawn—his breakthrough object-shrinking technology.

The inventor mentor gives him this neato high-tech suit that drops him down to, well, ant size (Honey, I Shrunk the Superhero?). Are you following this? It’s not difficult if you’ve seen even one Marvel origins story. It’s kind of like a rom-com; you know where the principles will end up, but it’s sometimes fun watching the characters get there. Sometimes.

In the superhero universe, this mixed bag is not terrible, like, say, Daredevil or Catwoman.  But it’s way too long, not as funny as it thinks it is (though I did like the battle on the Thomas the Tank Engine train set), fairly risk-averse, and borderline dull. (117 min)