'Solo' made me smile in spite of its imperfections

It's weird looking at the new Star Wars standalone film Solo as an underdog but I did. It's had to battle bad buzz -- largely inspired by its troubled production, which saw the firing of its original directors (replaced by Ron Howard) and reports of franchise fatigue.

I wanted to like this movie -- and I did -- despite the fact that it is far from a perfect blockbuster.

It is in so many ways a riskier proposition than the last standalone Star Wars movie, Rogue One, since its asking audience to accept (for the first time) new actors playing beloved franchise characters like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian.

But, that familiarity also aids the film tremendously because there's already a warmth and affection we feel for these heroes (including Chewbacca in fighting form) and that brand loyalty will help fans navigate some of the movie's bumpier passages.

It's definitely a movie that has grown on me the more that I think about it.

That being said, it does feel a bit like the work of too many cooks. Ron Howard, for all his competency, has never been director known for putting a distinct stylistic stamp on his films. The original directors -- Phil Lord and Christopher Miller -- who are best known for their comedy chops undoubtedly lent a hand to the film's genuine laughs, which are more plentiful than they were in the more dour Rogue One. But the film feels like a series of vignettes, instead of a single coherent story.

Some of these sequences work incredibly well -- especially in the back half of the film when the story starts to hit more of a consistent rhythm and the performances also start to feel more assured. Both Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover graduate from impersonation to solid new interpretations of their iconic characters, and many of the supporting players are great, although a few are dispatched with way too early for my liking.

The movie also does an admirable job of advancing the new Star Wars ethos of diversity and gender parity. Although I wish Emilia Clarke's character had more dimension, she is undeniably badass. The same goes for perhaps the most original creation of the movie -- a saucy droid named L3 -- who serves as Lando's co-pilot and possibly paramour.

Still, the movie feels hamstrung by its desire to fan service. It's color palette can be oppressively grim. And while I appreciate the movie's attempt to recreate the more lived-in world of the original trilogy, I did miss the gorgeous world building that was very present in The Last Jedi.

I am sure a lot of other fans will have more quibbles -- but I am not going to begrudge a Star Wars film for narrative inconsistencies and occasionally hokeyness. This is a fun, frivolous heist movie that doesn't really shed knew light on the character of Han Solo (he is already the sarcastic, cocky ace pilot we know and love from the beginning. It hits its themes with a pretty heavy hand but it's consistently funny and fast paced enough to keep me from dwelling on its imperfections.

I have no idea if it will satisfy the increasingly fickle faithful, but I'm definitely going to be rooting for it.