Fine Piece of Entertaining Fluff With Flaws

Rating: 6/10 (15 August 2014)

I was excited about seeing this movie, and expected a little more than I got. I think that will be the experience of a lot of people who have heard rave reviews, but aren't especially into comic book movies.
The movie is entertaining, and funny, but rather hollow.
It opens with a scene that is sort of a cheap, manipulative trick to garner sympathy for a character, but doesn't really earn that level of emotional investment. It goes on to throw together an ad hoc collection of characters that are in essence bad guys, and somehow they set aside their self-interests to team up, and become the closest of friends remarkably fast. Once again, the writing doesn't earn this progression, it just asks us to accept it.
I didn't. I had the same issue with Star Wars. Those characters didn't know each other long enough to have the feelings they developed in microwave fashion.
None of this will matter to you for the most part. But it does take those shortcuts, and uses those manipulations to substitute for character and story development. I did like two of these characters more than the others, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot, because I did buy their symbiotic relationship. The others I didn't.
The laughs are there. Big laughs.
The soundtrack was goofy. On several occasions they seem to stop the movie altogether so they can play a tired 70's easy listening song that doesn't fit, move the story forward, or make any damn sense. The songs aren't even particularly well-chosen.
Other than that, this is fantastic fare for those seeking what it offers. It will be frustrating for others.