I'll start with a note about the certificate. This is a 12A in the UK. There are a lot of extended horror-inspired scenes (with director Sam Raimi clearly going back to his roots). My 13yo and 15yo were both surprised by how intense this is at times. Younger children may well find it downright scary.

Now onto the film. Visually and sonically it is spectacular. A creative tour de force that the technical teams should be very proud of.

But that's it's problem. It's just a technical success. The story (and most importantly the characterisations) are really thin.

Now I'll confess that I always have a problem with superhero films that fall into the "most powerful being in the universe" trope. As soon as someone is that powerful, all tension disappears. They can just destroy everything if they want to, after all, so why are they messing around with endless force-field battles with one another?

You just end up with two hours of all-powerful beings jumping from universe to universe and engaging in increasingly boring conversations about the multiverse and the power of witchcraft. With the action/horror sequences getting increasingly silly as time goes on.

It does sort-of tie in with Wandavision and it does have a sequence in the middle that is clearly aimed at Marvel superfans, so if you are fully signed up to the franchise you'll get more from it than I did.

But as a casual filmgoer it is disappointing. An exercise in pure fantasy that doesn't have the relatable charm of other post-snap productions like Shang-Chi or Black Widow.