Blue Beetle (2023) * * *

Directed by:  Angel Manuel Soto

Starring:  Xolo Mariduena, George Lopez, Susan Sarandon, Adriana Barraza, Damian Alcazar, Bruna Marquezine, Harvey Guillen, Elpidia Carrillo, Raoul Max Trujillo, Belissa Escobedo

With the glut of superhero movies underwhelming at the box office and in the minds of audiences lately, Blue Beetle is a refreshing antidote to those films.  It's a pity Blue Beetle may keep audiences away because they think it will be another Flash, but it has a heart and isn't CGI on steroids, not that it doesn't have moments of things blowing up.  

Our hero is Jaime Reyes (Mariduena-from Cobra Kai) who comes home from college to learn his family home will soon by lost.  Jaime and his sister Milagro (Escobedo) find jobs working for ultra-rich and ultra-villainous Victoria Kord (Sarandon), who can't wait to gobble up the Reyes home (among others) and build a shopping area.  Kord is also into weapons of warfare, including the Blue Beetle suit which Jaime comes into possession of courtesy of Kord's niece Jenny (Marquezine), who is certainly not a villain like Victoria.  

Jaime is told not to open the box the suit comes in, but he does out of curiosity, and the suit (which attaches itself to its host) takes over Jaime and gives us the usual superhero movie scene in which Jaime has to figure out how to use his newfound powers.  What isn't typical of Blue Beetle is how we know Jaime comes from a loving family and works with them to overcome evil.  The best performances come from Adriana Barraza, who plays the family matriarch who has a secret past as a revolutionary fighter, and Uncle Rudy (Lopez), a conspiracy theorist who once knew the original Blue Beetle from long ago.

Jaime, as played by Mariduena, is a likable guy who transforms into a vulnerable hero.  Blue Beetle still touches on some superhero standards, but hits more poignant notes especially in the climactic scenes which separate the movie from the typical.