Taika Waititi, an FC favorite, stuffs this timeless Marvel Meathead full of original humor and a psychedelic motif to break free from the usual bore of Thor. And in doing so, he invites all naysayers of loud MCU mashups (yes, our hands are raised) to his peculiar interpretation.

Taika’s vision is seen in the opening sequence as Thor (Hemsworth) is face to face with Surtur (Brown, voice)…and then he is not…and then he is again. His style is felt in the film’s belly as he juices each character, no matter how unfunny in this normally serious cosmic space, for their latent comedy. And ultimately, Korg (Waititi) carries that unmistakable Kiwi accent into the most memorable, and hilarious, moments of Thor.

The Grandmaster (Goldblum) layers his heartless sarcasm and self-indulging governance amidst his fantasies in an ideal la-di-da manner. Topaz (House) ogles The Grandmaster but also frets his glaring incompetence. Although we didn’t really buy the buddy dynamic of Thorsky & Hulk (Ruffalo), it was a noble effort and Valkyrie’s (Thompson) apathy gets a nod.

At times, it’s a bit of a mess but Taika brings us back to Asgard with a laugh. Thor: Ragnarok hammers home 4.49 napkins out of 5.