Bite Sized Movie Reviews - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

**Minor Spoilers Within**

“We are still Groot!” screams the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and it has every right to. Naturally, the sequel doesn't fully capture the same feels of Vol. 1 because, let's face it, that first movie came out of left field (I stated on the Trilogy Spoilers Podcast, upon hearing the concept for GOTG, that a movie about a talking raccoon and a sentient tree would be ridiculous . . . one of the few times I've been wrong). 

No one expected such a backwater comic book title like Guardians to ever be made into a movie but Marvel has become extremely adept at finding the right combination of ingredients for successful transition from page to screen. In this case it was the presence of a mouthy Racoon, an adorable tree creature, the charisma of Chris Pratt, the vision of James Gunn, and an epic space adventure. But would it work the second time around? Good news! It did!

Baby Groot is adorable and will sell a gajillion stuffed toys.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was an action-packed space adventure that built on the emotional capital originally founded in the first movie. The team has been together for a little while now and while they don’t always operate as a cohesive unit, there’s still a certain amount of family-esque bickering that goes on. Peter Quill still loves Gamora and she continues to not return those feelings. Drax has developed more of a sense of humor and his exchanges with newcomer Manta in particular are hilarious. Rocket remains unchanged as a character and is still my favourite of the group. And then there’s the cutest thing to ever grace a movie screen in the form of Baby Groot. Why they decided to not have Groot return to his actual size kind of confused me as in the comics he’s able to regenerate back to his normal size quite quickly after being destroyed. But upon seeing the opening dance number it all became clear: Baby Groot is adorable and will sell a gajillion stuffed toys.
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For full on CGI characters, Groot and Rocket tend to be the highlight of any scene they’re in. Between the two of them, they carry so much emotion, attitude, and humor that it’s hard to look at anyone else.

Possibly my favourite Stan Lee cameo of all time.

The overall story revolves around Starlord discovering who is father is and, as it turns out, he’s a planet (Ego the Living Planet) played beautifully by Kurt Russell who really should be in more movies because he looks like he’s got a lot of miles left in the tank. Add to that the Guardians being wanted by a bunch of gold aliens, and you’ve got yourself an adventure story. Albeit a sad one . . .

The true theme of the story revolves around the relationship between father and son. And we’re not talking the biological kind of relationship. The bond between Quill and Yondu, Rocket and Groot, Quill and his Father, Rocket and Yondu . . . there are a lot of combinations that work here and they work very well. It all comes down to a heart-wrenching finale that’s hard to forget due to how sweet and poignant it is to the overall story.

Thanks to the five, that’s right, count em, FIVE end credit sequences, we also have a rough idea where Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will take us. But first we’ll get to see Quill and Co in the next Avengers movie next year!  


RANDOM MOMENTS OF AWESOMENESS

• You thought Yondu taking out those men with his arrow in the first movie was cool? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
  
  
• Always nice to see Sly making an appearance. Part of me wished he’d been called John Spartan though . . .
  
  
• Possibly my favourite Stan Lee cameo of all time.
  
  
• Nebula tends to be a little more interesting than Gamora this time around due to her conflicted sisterly emotions. Here’s hoping we see more of her in the future.
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• Did I mention how cute Baby Groot is? ​