Announced way, way back in 2006 alongside the announcement that Marvel was going to be producing its own movies, starting with Iron Man, Ant-Man has had a long and storied road to the big screen.

We’ve seen a beloved comic actor take the lead, we’ve seen a cult-favorite leave the director’s chair, and now, nearly a decade later, Ant-Man has finally hit the screen. The result? One of the strangest, most imperfect, and yet most fun Marvel Studios movies just yet.

Much like last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man is a character who grabs a shrug, if not a series of jokes, from the general public. Yes, he’s just a hero who shrinks to the size of an ant (for now, at least). Yes, that is “lame". No, I don’t know why we’re supposed to take him seriously in a world populated by Super Soldiers, Thunder Gods, and Androids. But I’ll be damned if the movie doesn’t make a great argument for it.

Starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, our hero for the film, Ant-Man takes Scott, an excellent thief, but a less than stellar human being, and absentee father - and inserts him into a story of family and corporate intrigue.

The Ant-Man suit and technology was developed by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Pym originally developed the technology for SHIELD, but decided to spin off on his own, after seeing a want to use the technology en masse, creating an entire series of soldiers. Decades later, Pym is mostly retired, with his company controlled by Darren Cross (House of Cards’ Corey Stoll) with Pym’s daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) as Cross’ right-hand woman. After years of research, Cross has finally cracked the code for Pym’s shrinking technology - called Pym Particles - and is intending to sell it to the military market as the “Yellowjacket". Obviously, this won’t stand so Pym and his estranged daughter Hope, approach Lang with becoming the Ant-Man to steal the Yellowjacket suit and destroying the technology once and for all.

That’s right - much how Marvel’s Phase 2 gave us Superhero Movies as Conspiracy Films (Captain America: The Winter Solider), Superhero Movies as Lethal Weapon Homage (Iron Man 3) and Superhero Movies as Space Opera (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ant-Man presents us with a Superhero Movie as Heist Film. And for the most part, the movie works.

Ant-Man engrains us with all sorts of families - Scott’s ex-wife, her fiance, and his daughter Cassie; Hank Pym, Hope, and her late mother - but the strongest bond (and where the most laughs are found) are with Lang’s erstwhile family of fellow thieves, portrayed by Michael Pena, rapper TI, and David Dastmalchian. Michael Pena in particular shines as the incredibly bright and friendly Luis, whose gift of gab results in brilliant Drunk History-esq retellings of how he received the tip on different heists.

These storytellings are an example of the engaging techniques used to tell the story. We have really great training montages, we have these flashbacks, and of course, all of the amazing sequences shot when Scott is shrunk in the Ant-Man suit. For better or worse, however, these great sequences remind us exactly of what the film is missing: Edgar Wright.

It’s a shame to say - especially as Peyton Reed does a tremendous job in sticking the landing on what appeared to be a doomed project - but Wright’s fingerprints can be found all over the final project, especially in the unique way Ant-Man’s story is told. The end result is admirably well done, but results in a movie that hits a B-grade, when it could’ve been an A. This missing feeling, in addition to a script and plot that doesn’t really serve the character of Hope van Dyne as well as it could’ve, strikes the movie down from what it could’ve been. Perhaps this feeling will subside as the movie ages, but it stuck with me in the theater, and I couldn’t shake it.

Those gripes aside - Ant-Man is still a tremendously fun time in the theater. The movie has a lot of heart, and the script work by Paul Rudd and Anchorman’s Adam McKay results in many solid laughs. In terms of the Marvel lexicon, I’d place it aside Thor in terms of making a seemingly inaccessible character incredibly fun - but it’s also just as slight, compared to the highest highs of this ongoing cinematic universe.

A mixture of Ocean’s Eleven, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Iron Man, Ant-Man isn’t perfect - but it is a heck of a fun time at the movies.

NOTES: I saw Ant-Man in 3D. While completely unnecessary, it does enhance the sense of scale for all of the “micro" scenes with the character.

Ant-Man is currently in theaters, and is available for pre-order on Amazon and iTunes.