'Guardians' Amps Up The Antics And Actors In Vol. 2

When there's five new superhero movies a year, it's hard to have them stand out. Thankfully, Guardians has a myriad of things to make it different than the standard saving of the galaxy (even though it's literally in the title), like a talking tree and raccoon duo, a killer soundtrack and action sequences riddled with laugh-out-loud humor.

Writer/director James Gunn brings everything that audiences loved in the first installment back tenfold. In the 2+ hour film, there's moments of laughter, action, feelings, music and of course, dancing.

Therein lies the magic of Baby Groot. No audience member is immune to the charm of a tiny, dancing baby tree. It's impossible. Gunn knows that and manages to use it to its full potential without crossing the line into eye-roll territory.

Every character is somehow just a bit more heightened than they were before. Pratt's Peter Quill is funnier, louder and sassier. Zoe Saldana injects a bit more humanity into her warrior Gamora, Bautista's Drax is even more black-and-white hilarious and the slightly kleptomaniac Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is a tad more insane than he was before.

Guardians does an impressive job of drawing everything back into the main plot to where nothing seems left to chance. Even a David Hasselhoff joke (a la a similar Kevin Bacon one in the first film) recurs in a way that can make audiences gasp.

While it may be tough to pay full attention to anything for more than two hours, this is one movie for which you'll want to make the effort. Every line was honed and every song was chosen for its specific purpose, leaving an end result that creates one of the most satisfying movie experiences of 2017.