I personally think the Brawl events aren't that bad, they just aren't presented the same way they were in Melee. In Melee it was the name and description that stuck, making you have to guess what you're up against and making it seem more interesting when you do have to face it. However, in Brawl there's a picture to give you a decent idea of what you're going to be doing, so it feels less special.
A lot of the events aren't just battles, despite how a lot of people keep acting. For example, the pikmin one requires you merely to avoid enemies long enough for all 6 pikmin to become flowers, and in the one where you're Bowser you have to simply stay alive until the screen scrolls past the flag in Mushroomy Kingdom (and on hard mode the stage goes by a lot faster, so you need to be sure you aren't caught behind anything at all times).
There's a few neat variables in some of them, as well. In the one where Marth must protect Zelda, if she survives until the lava area, she will turn into Shiek and help you fight. In the one where it's Ike vs Diddy, you have to try and beat them before the same lava area of Castle Siege, otherwise a giant DK will come and you'll have to beat him as well (or you can purposely wait so that you get the chance to fight him).