Ideal Summer Event Movie

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2014)

Awesome songs from the 70s and 80s?
Five losers who you quickly grow to love?
A gun-toting raccoon and an inarticulate tree who grows on you in may ways?
Join the ride, because with "Charm +42" beaming from all angles, Star Lord (or Peter Quill) is easily the most likable anti-hero since Han Solo, although the fashionable comparison is unfair as there is actually very little in common with that character. Rocket the Raccoon is the real Han Solo in this film and Groot the Tree is his Chewbacca: Rocket just hasn't met his Leia yet...
I have no qualms putting this in the 10 category (the top 10% of movies I have ever seen). There is an emotional journey for all five characters that feels truly earned, and far surpasses any such attempt in previous Marvel films.
It isn't perfect, the music score (beyond the picked songs) is tuneless and so-so (no John William's class here). The enemies are truly cardboard and dull (although there is an excellent pay-off for this). Karen Gillan is the most poorly short-changed by the family-movie rating as her psychopathic character isn't seen killing a single person removing all fear from her implied awesomeness. Glen Close's Nova Prime is flat and John C Reilly's cop's important character arc is seriously underdeveloped. The antagonists or the hero's don't even have the most awesome kill scene, you'll have to whistle for that!
But don't let any of that put you off. The five protagonists are what this film is about, the plot is a distraction, you will just want to spend time with these people: again and again. I love it. I hope you do too.
I want more, and more and more. I want Star Lord and team to meet Loki - there's an antagonist who just might dance back!