In 2015 the Marvel movie 'Ant-Man' didn't do so well in theaters. I was one of the many that didn't go see. Despite being a lover of superhero movies, had many reasons for not wanting to see it: I'm afraid of ants (especially a lot of ants), the previews didn't make me think that Paul Rudd made a good superhero, and the previews showed me that there was too much of small Ant-Man getting tossed around. I had opportunities to see it while it was in theaters and afterward, and I choose to not see it because I stood by my stubborn snap-judgment that it was a dumb movie.

However, my experience with 'Ant-Man' changed how I will think about movies from now on.

My problem with the movie stemmed from my problems with the character Ant-Man. He, unlike Spider-Man, uses small ants to help him out and shrinks down to their size. That's jarring to me, but the ants bring in another factor. They make the movie seem childish, and that is something that I still think after seeing the movie and no longer disliking it. The dark themes of Scott's life, such as imprisonment, being unable to find a job and being kept from seeing his daughter are lightened by childish humor seen in the interactions with the ants as well as the jokes that the various characters make throughout the movie.

'The Ant-Man and the Wasp' was not something that I was excited about, even after not having much of a problem with Ant-Man's character in 'Captain America: Civil War,' which is one of my favorite Marvel movies. However, the preview of the movie looked actually interesting to me. This surprised me because I had seen 'Ant-Man' and had not been impressed. The thing is, I didn't actively watch it. It was played in an AP class at the end of the year after we had taken our AP tests but still had school. I read 'The Raven King' instead of watching it, but I still picked up on what was going on. By the time Scott gets all the way down to the quantum realm, I was paying attention. I thought that scene was stupid and went back to my book.

Three years later I watched the movie again with my family. I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed Scott's character, the humor, and Hope's character. I do still have my problems with it, and they all revolve around the ants for the most part, but I no longer think the movie is bad. I don't think it's stellar, mostly because the villain's character was lacking, but it is certainly enjoyable and not one of Marvels worst.

An important takeaway of my experience watching 'Ant-Man' is this: wait to watch the entirety of a movie yourself before deciding how you feel about it, and certainly before talking negatively about it. I wish I would have given myself the opportunity to watch something that I knew I enjoyed (a movie about a comic book superhero) before deciding that I wouldn't like it.

I do look forward to seeing the sequel, 'Ant-Man and the Wasp,' although the ending was (willingly) ruined for me by my younger brothers. Hopefully, I'll have time to go see it while it's still in theaters, and I encourage everyone who didn't like the first Ant-Man movie to do the same, or at the very least re-watch the first movie with open eyes, leaving all previous judgments of it behind.