The expectations were already set low for director Tim Story’s superhero sequel, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”

But as a rare treat, this worked out well for the film, helping it capture an audience for its first weekend at the box office, scoring 58.1 million on opening day and 88 million worldwide, surpassing the original’s debut numbers at roughly 56 million.

Better yet, this outing for Marvel Comics first family is better than the 2005 original.

The action, character development and special effects have all been improved and the story also has more substance to it, though it still lacks in that area.

The plot of “Rise of the Silver Surfer” has the four superheroes fighting a familiar nemesis, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) and being introduced to a new character, the Silver Surfer (Doug Jones/ voice by Laurence Fishburne). The surfer has come to Earth to seek the planet for his master, Galactus, a planet-devouring storm that will kill all life on Earth to satisfy his hunger. Though, this storm may sound ridiculous, a complaint made often is that in the comics, Galactus, is a giant man wearing a huge purple helmet, was not visually represented correctly. I think Story made the right choice by changing this fact, because it would be hard for it to transcend on screen without looking pretty ridiculous.

The acting is good for the most part. Chris Evans once again steals the show with his charisma that nails the part of the hotheaded Human Torch. Unfortunately, they did not allow actors such as Kerry Washington and Andre Braugher to play bigger roles in the movie. At best, they were both cliche like characters who fit stereotypes in the film. Both actors could have done so much more with their roles.

The Invisible Woman, played by Jessica Alba, once again is the cheap laugh of the movie, with her near-naked scene in the movie. Her contacts also were so blue that she looked borderline possessed at times during the movie and unnatural looking. But overall, her character improved by having more importance and involvement with the plot.

Another good element to the film was the fact that Ioan Grufford as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic has a good hero/villain interaction with Dr. Doom. The two hate each other so much, and to see that expounded on screen was necessary if they were to have Doom return as a villain and have any real relevance to the new film.

The special effects looked good in this film, especially the Silver Surfer who looked realistic in the film. Doug Jones did a nice job of making the Surfer’s movements look fluid, much like Jones’ work on “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Hellboy.” The fight at the end, also had very elaborate special effects, which showed a spectacle of super-powers at work. Michael Chiklis, who plays The Thing, also had a much better body suit to work with this time around. The film really had a nice balance of computer animation and real set props.

One of the biggest complaints though would have to be with the advertising placement in the film, which bordered on over-the-top. Especially with the Fantasticar, which is the heroes’ vehicle that flies. It was sponsored by Dodge Motors, and the ad placement between the vehichle and the Human Torch’s costume towards the beginning was overkill. Especially with the joke of, “Does this have a HEMI?” It was really unnecessary.

This film truly benefited from the low expectations though. In the summer of sequels, this movie was nearly off the radar and did not have the same pressures placed on it as “Spider-Man 3” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End” had.

“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” was superior film to the original, which had better action, acting, plot and special effects.