A general malaise seems to have fallen over a segment of the superhero-loving movie population. Too many movies in too brief a time, perhaps? I'm not sure what else could explain the negative reaction to Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, the latest movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It's good. It's really good. It easily ranks among the best of the MCU films in recent years, rubbing elbows with Avengers: Infinity War and Spider-Man: No Way Home without shame.

The movie sends Ant-Man and Wasp, aka Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), into the Quantum Realm along with the original Ant-Man and Wasp, aka Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Lang's daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton). Although they have dabbled in the Quantum Realm in the past -- Janet was trapped there for 30 years, then rescued, and the team experimented with travel into the Quantum Realm back before Thanos dusted half the population -- they all have no idea that Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) is trapped down there and looking for some way to escape.

Well, except for Janet, but for reasons she kept that fact secret until it was too late.

Down in the subatomic plain they find a secret universe, surprisingly and diversely populated by unusual beings, including Bill Murray (aka Lord Krylar), with whom Janet had a bit of a fling back in the day but who now is a bit of a jerk, as well as broccoli people and gemstone people and a guy with a flashlight head and a badass warrior woman named Jentorra (Katy O'Brian) and a sarcastic mindreader named Quaz (William Jackson Harper) and a red blobby fellow named Veb (David Dastmalchian) who's fixated on other folks' holes and whose ooze imparts translation abilities. They all hate Kang, who has taken over the place in Janet's absence, and they hate Janet, too, for leaving him there.

There are also a bunch of Hank's ants, who also got pulled into the Quantum Realm but traveled a different timestream and evolved into bigger ants with cool technology.

The Quantum Realm is strange and weirdly beautiful with a whole different physics, a testament to the CGI work that brought it to life. Quantumania is, if nothing else, a visual treat.

But it's also a good story. When the movie begins, Scott is content to ride the coattails of his past successes. Along the way -- and with his daughter Cassie's prodding -- he remembers what it means to be a hero to people in need. Cassie, too -- now played by her third actress in the MCU -- grows from rebellious teen to being a hero in her own right. Good thing she also is wearing (secretly) her own variation on the Ant-Man suit.

Hank provides some cool ant-based science and curmudgeonly attitude. And Janet, although she spends too much time playing it cool and mysterious rather than telling everyone what's going on, has some cool kickass scenes. Only Hope falls short, seemingly forgotten by the screenwriters until the end when she makes one very memorable stand.

Majors' Kang makes for a powerful, emotionally charged adversary, even moreso than his slightly different incarnation in the Loki miniseries. He has already been established as the next Big Bad in the MCU, and the conclusion of this film sets him up to be a pretty big challenge -- potentially better even than Thanos. Less memorable is Corey Stoll's M.O.D.O.K. -- last seen as the villainous Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, in the first Ant-Man film, his apparent death transplanted him into the Quantum Realm as well, in a grossly misshapen form. But here he is used mostly for humor, pathetically so, and after the first scene or two I usually cringed at each new appearance.

Overall, Quantumania is another win for Marvel fans. Don't buy into the internet trolls who love to hate; just see it -- on the big screen, if you can -- and enjoy the experience.

NOTE: I'm just realizing we have not reviewed the first two Ant-Man movies. They might be worth a rewatch soon....