Some comic book superheros were just meant to stay in the comics. In the case of “Fantastic Four,” this goes for all of them.

Director Tim Story does a great job of remaining loyal to the book’s original story and characters, but doesn’t take much care in making these elements into a movie. Even though the film is jam-packed with fancy stunts, special effects and plenty of racy shots of Jessica Alba, one is left feeling empty at the end.

The four heroes are scientists Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), the squeaky-clean brain who is too careful for his own good; Sue Storm (Alba), Reed’s beautiful old flame; Johnny Storm, (Chris Evans) Sue’s younger, reckless brother; and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), Reed’s loyal, happily married business partner. Billionaire Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) is the group’s financial backer and Sue’s new suitor, and he joins the four on a mission in outer space to investigate a cosmic storm.

It isn’t long before things go wrong and the storm ends up altering each character’s DNA. Reed becomes super-stretchy Mr. Fantastic; Sue morphs into Invisible Woman; Johnny – aka The Human Torch – discovers he can spontaneously set himself on fire and Ben reluctantly becomes The Thing, a gruff-voiced, giant-sized brick of a being.

The plot starts to gain momentum when romantic tension between Reed and Sue turns into an ongoing lover’s quarrel, and when attention-seeking Johnny’s antics end up exploiting the group. The most touching part of the film is watching The Thing go through humiliation and heartbreak, while Von Doom’s transformation into the metallic villain named Dr. Doom gives the story the antagonist it needs. This is about as interesting as it gets.

The characters are flat and the performances are even flatter. The Fantastic Four are inexplicably heroic and selfless, although they are just supposed to be scientists who morphed into freaks of nature. Alba spends most of her camera time with the same indignant expression on her face, McMahon’s portrayal of Dr. Doom is melodramatic, and Gruffudd’s Reed Richards is so unbelievably goody-goody one wonders what Sue Storm sees in him.

As well as having poor performances, the story is somewhat hollow. It is like Story’s attempt at lightheartedness resulted in no heart at all. The scenes aren’t especially exciting and the climax is so brief it could be missed in a minute. The reconciliation between Sue and Reed at the end seems kind of baseless, and the jokes and tongue-in-cheek references to each of the heroes’’ superpowers are a little tawdry. This might have been a hit comic book, but the onscreen version of “Fantastic Four” doesn’t come close to its name.