Mrs. Greenbean and I, along with the youngest sprout, watched Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 last night.

Here is what is good about it.

1. Baby Groot. Not as enjoyable as Groot, but still fun.
2. There are several moments of witty dialogue, which is the real strength of these films.
3. The music is great.
4. It is a beautiful movie to watch–the costuming, effects, and color are pleasing to the eye. 
5. The family themes are positive in both directions. What I mean is that both biological and free association ideas of family are demonstrated as potential failures and successes, in their own way.

These five things are worth the price of a matinee ticket. Not an IMAX or even a comfortable reclining seat ticket. Just matinee.

It definitely was not as good as the first Guardians film. In fact, upon reflection, it had all the defects of the first film and very little of the good things. Chris Pratt is always likable, but in this film I find him absent. I don’t know if it is an intentional device on the part of the writing team, but I’m guessing more than half the scenes do not have Pratt in them. Instead, there is a weird focus upon minor characters from the first film.

Here is what I didn’t like at all.

WARNING–I have been advised there is a spoiler potential in No. 1 Below, so, I have redacted it, and moved the uncensored version to the bottom of this blog post where you can read it at your own risk.

1. The plot was not just uninspired, it was plagiarized. How many times must we see a  semi-divine being try to take over the galaxy.
2. Zoe Saldana got lost in the mix. Her character is completely lost. I think she has one good scene. One.
3. The film grabs at so many relationships — Peter/Yondu, Rocket/Yondu,  Gamora/Peter, Peter/Ego, Mantis/Drax, Nebula/Gamora, Baby Groot/Rocket that it really does a poor job with all of them.
4. Sylvester Stallone.
5. The Mummy trailer we were afflicted with. Another Mummy reboot? With Tom Cruise? Really?

Most sequels are not as good as the original, and I feel like Marvel rushed this one to fit the Avengers timeline. It felt that way–like they needed to get a couple of things checked off their big picture narrative before they can move on with what they really want to do.

Is it kid friendly? About the same as the first one. There is language and sexual innuendo I wouldn’t want a six year old to see, and a moment of intense violence that I found disturbing. However, it is not too great a departure from typical comic book. It is right square where a PG-13 film probably should be.

POSSIBLE SPOILER BELOW–SCROLL AT YOUR OWN RISK

I WARNED YOU

1. The plot was not just uninspired, it was plagiarized. How many times must we see a  semi-divine being try to take over the galaxy.