As with many movies these days, it starts out with action then flashes back to fill in the story, which helps keep the story from dragging at the beginning. The slow character / story building at the beginning of the movie has been a significant issue for many marvel movies (spider man, hulk, daredevil, to name a few). The story of Tony Stark is filled with interesting characters and peppered with humor and wit, which is quite enough to keep the audience entertained while making the characters more real. There are a few arguably predictable plot twists, great special effects and entertaining action scenes. This is a great movie, though you may want to consider the adult themes if you intend to bring young children.