Who would've thunk? The latest Marvel/Disney 'superhero' blockbuster isn't a household name like Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, X-Men, Thor or the Avengers but a rag-tag band of outlaw misfits including a thief who calls himself a 'star lord,' a badass green alien chick, a gun-toting wisecracking raccoon, a treeman/dryad right out of 'Lord of the Rings' and a tattooed brute known as Drax the Destroyer. Heck, I have never even heard of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' until Marvel/Disney put it on their release schedule back in 2012. A quick Google search informed me that GotG was a Marvel Comic title back in 1969 which was resurrected in 2008, when popular ex-Black Library author Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning brought it back in its current form.
Still, "how seriously can we take a movie with a talking raccoon in it?", I thought. You might as well throw in 'Howard the Duck.' The answer is quite simple: you can't nor should you. GotG is great precisely because it is funny, light-hearted, rollicking space opera. A fun and brightly lit counterpoint like GotG is a welcome change in our era of dark and dreary, city-leveling disaster porn masquerading as superhero movies (are you listening, DC?). Like Joss Whedon's 'Firefly' and 'Serenity,' GotG is a galaxy spanning space-western with colorful but dubious characters we love to root for. This unlikely quintet can't stand each other and bicker most of the time they're together, but when the bullets start flying they are as close-knit as any superhero team worthy of its name.
The visual FX and designs of GotG are breathtakingly gorgeous. This has only been the third movie I watched so far this year in IMAX 3D and it's worth every penny. Plus, it's got a rocking retro soundtrack. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista played their respective roles well, as did Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel in voicing Rocket and "I am Groot." There are also some well known supporting casts including Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou and Benicio del Toro. Just when this summer movie season's been one for the doldrums, GotG came along and gave it the shot in the arm it desperately needed. All hail Marvel/Disney. It can do no wrong.
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