Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

— We all knew it would be tough to compete with the original “Guardians” and it’s surprising, bickering, funny, vaguely inept group of misfits who end up saving the universe with a perfect mix of oldies playing in the background. Many of the same guardians are back in “Vol. 2” and they’re still bickering, sometimes funny, and seemingly in over their heads. This one has a few more sensitive moments—maybe people didn’t catch on that they’re a “family” who loves each other and Marvel had to drive the point home in Vol. 2—and that helped keep it focused on the characters instead of falling into the sequel trap of being so full of itself it felt like the screen was going to explode in one final special effect! The good news is that the soundtrack is still one of the stars, there are enough 1960’s cultural references to make me wonder what younger audiences think of them, and there’s enough action to make it an action film. I liked it and thought it was great fun, but it would have seemed even better if I hadn’t had the original against which to compare. (And now I have a new group of tunes from my youth banging around in my head and making me smile.)

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[2017. 16 min. Directed by James Abnett. Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel (voice), and Bradley Cooper (voice).]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-2-2017