The effects are the closest most of us will get to tripping balls in a Disney movie outside of dropping acid and watching "Pink Elephants on Parade" on a YouTube loop.
Though Doctor Strange's impressive visual effects and head-spinning mythology might seem a bit much for Marvel's typical filmgoing crowd, its story is rudimentary enough to keep the more far-reaching elements relatively grounded.
Doctor Strange has all the strengths of a Marvel movie-a well-told story, a well-tuned sense of humor about itself, a personal drama to shape the hero's journey-as well as all the weaknesses (conventions of a superhero origin tale are getting repetitive).
Doctor Strange, intended to be a mind-bending, rule-breaking rebuke to the squares of superhero cinema, turns out to be a rebel in name only -- the textbook definition of a bad trip.
