Dopey, silly, touching, thrilling, poignant, heartfelt, hilarious... there's just too many words to describe "Guardians of the Galaxy"- arguably Marvel's best film yet.

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 2014)

A definition:
"Entertainment- n. To be provided with feelings of enjoyment and/or amusement."
...I firmly believe the definition should be expanded with to include "The feeling one achieves when viewing 'Guardians of the Galaxy.'"
"Guardians of the Galaxy" is thus far the tenth entry in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe"- the every-expanding film franchise including such heroes as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and others. And it was one that garnered some interesting responses and hype in the months leading up to its release. After all, this is a film that features a talking raccoon, alien species and an anthropomorphic tree.
But shockingly, under expert guidance of director/co-writer James Gunn and thanks to a lot of creativity, the film flourishes and stands tall as perhaps the best entry so far in Marvel's Cinematic Universe.
Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill, a human who was abducted by aliens as a young child, and has since made a living in the universe as something of a scavenger and thief. After inadvertently connecting with a motley crew of others (including Gamora- the daughter of an evil titan played by Zoe Saldana, Drax- a vengeance-hungry alien played by Dave Bautista, Rocket- an experimental being that resembles a raccoon and is voiced by Braley Cooper, and Groot- a walking, talking plant and Rocket's pal, voiced by Vin Diesel), Quill is pulled into a struggle to save the galaxy from Ronan (Lee Pace), a ruthless alien who seeks to destroy it.
This film is pure fun and grand entertainment.
The performances are all perfect. Pratt strikes just the right balance of silliness and seriousness. Saldana is given a lot of room to grow as a character. Bautista proves very capable as a wrestler-turned-actor and gives a lot of great moments. Cooper is absolutely perfect as the hot-headed raccoon. And Diesel provides both wonderful belly-laughs and even some great touching moments as Groot. This is just a perfect cast.
James Gunn excels at his job. Even though he started his career with the hyper-cheap Troma Entertainment, he's right at home at the helm of this ship. In addition to some fine, kinetic, fun direction, his script (which he co-wrote) has an absolutely perfect balance of story and plenty of wonderful character beats. Gunn is definitely the man for the job with this film, and there's nobody else who could have done a better job than he did.
The set and costume design is first-class. The score Tyler Bates compliments the visuals well. The effects are eye-poppingly unique and gorgeous. And the wonderful soundtrack of great oldies (including everything from "Hooked on a Feeling" to "Come and Get Your Love" to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough") amazingly works well with what is on- screen.
This is just a great, fun film. And it is easily the single-most entertaining movie I've seen in years. I loved it to death, and absolutely cannot wait to go back and see it a second, third, fourth and fifth time.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" gets a perfect 10 from me. It has to. It's charming, heartfelt, hilarious, action-packed. It's pure entertainment.