Supergirl flies into a great space caper

Another solo superhero soars into theaters from the DC Universe and this time it's Supergirl. The cousin of Superman skips leaping buildings in a single bound and instead sails into outer space for a cosmic adventure.

This DC Extended Universe tale begins with a white terrier named Krypto knocking over a beer bottle, then peeing on a newspaper article on Superman. Kara Zor-el is nursing a hangover from celebrating her 23rd birthday on her spaceship, where a red sun allowed her to depower and feel the effects of alcohol the day before.

The scene shifts to a villain named Krem of the Yellow Hills terrorizing a family, which leads a young girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll to seek revenge. She teams up with Kara after Krypto's life is threatened and the two, aided by an antihero named Lobo, battle space pirates and aliens.

The unusual storytelling doesn't show Kara's earlier life as a survivor of the planet Krypton until over 40 minutes into the one hour and 48 minute running time.

Producer James Gunn doesn't like origin stories and he has stated in the past that his projects will skip over a character's beginnings because the public has seen it all before. That tendency is reflected in Supergirl, with her Argo City backstory landing almost in the middle of the film and the immortal Lobo was robbed of his roots. The Czarnia bounty hunter gives the audience no clue to his real motivations or that he's the last of his kind like Kara. Perhaps this is being saved for a solo tale. Hawaiian Jason Momoa plays Lobo, who he more closely resembles in the comics than the blonde Aquaman.

Australian Milly Alcock plays the lead character who first made a comic book appearance in 1959. That's a heavy load to carry on her shoulders after only one other big-screen adaptation in 1984.

Alcock's version doesn't act super until much later in the film. After traumatically losing her tribe, she is emotionally unstable and unpredictable. Supergirl needs an intervention because her life has gotten out of control. She can't rely on her emotional support animal, Krypto, but the distraction of helping him works.

Little orphan Kara loves her dog, which leads her on an adventure of saving other girls who live hard-knock lives. The red sun does come out tomorrow and maybe someday Lex Luthor could be cast as the Warbucks in her world.

Streaky the Supercat is left a stray or at least too similar to Gunn's antics with Goose used in Captain Marvel. Krypto the Superdog is leashed to computer generation and can't shed his fake fur.

Matthias Schoenaerts is the studded and pierced Krem, who can also be found in the DC series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. He doesn't make an impact as a memorable adversary to Kara other than being ruthless to Ruthye and her family.

Supergirl would have made a much better cartoon than a live-action feature film. Craig Gillespie's poor directing could be blamed for any shortcomings or Ana Nogueira's inexperience in writing. Ultimately, James Gunn is the producer and his signature can be seen throughout this space case.

Some moviegoers will have fun with it and if they lower their expectations, they won't be disappointed. If they are looking for another Wonder Woman, these red boots need more of an arch. It's not a bad film, but it's not really super, gurl…

Check out the latest DC adaptation in theaters now, wham, bam, pow!