After the emotional gut punch that was the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man & the Wasp provides a much-needed bit of levity.

Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), is on house arrest following the events of Captain America: Civil War (which explains his absence during Infinity War). But after an unexpected psychic link with the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Scott is snatched from his home by original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) to see if it's possible to rescue her from the subatomic Quantum Realm, where she's been trapped for 30 years.

Meanwhile, shady businessman Sonny Burch (Walter Goggins) is trying to acquire Pym's shrunken lab for an unrevealed employer, and the mysterious Ghost, aka Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), is trying to tap into Van Dyne's quantum energies to cure her condition, which manifests as an uncontrollable flux state; in her efforts, Ghost has the questionable assistance of former Pym colleague Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne). Also, FBI Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) has the unenviable task of trying to ensure Lang adheres to the terms of his house arrest.

As before, there's great character interactions at play here, especially between Lang and his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), Lang and the easily flustered Woo, and eager-to-please sideman Luis (Michael Pena) with, like, everyone else. At the same time, there's a bit of a moral quandary with Ghost, who is most definitely being villainous but has some fairly persuasive justifications for what she's trying to do.

The special effects are, as (very nearly) always in the MCU, top notch, including a wonderfully well-staged shrink, phase and grow car chase.

Ant-Man & the Wasp is a lot of fun. It's probably not anyone's favorite MCU movie, but it's lively and entertaining and fits neatly into the MCU timeline. (Oh, and a vital mid-credits scene sets up Scott's pivotal role in Endgame.)