Expectations: Blown Away

Rating: 10/10 (31 July 2014)

I'll admit, when I first heard that Marvel was doing a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, the only thing I could think was "Really?" in a rather disappointed tone as if Marvel had lost their mind. After Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, (yes) Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: Winter Soldier, they green lighted a GotG movie? What were they thinking?
Then I saw the first trailer, and it caught my interest, but I still just couldn't picture it. Not along side the greatness of the previous Marvel movies. It just didn't seem like it would be a good movie to me. I couldn't conceive of what possible plot they could have come up with for a move with a raccoon and a tree.
Then I saw the fourth trailer on iTunes and got rather excited. From the fourth trailer, I started to have hope. But the big problem with having hope in a movie you know nothing about is that you can get that hope dashed...quickly.
But I bought my ticket anyway, giving Marvel the benefit of the doubt. After all, perfect track record so far. If anything, it wasn't going to completely suck. That much I knew.
First part of the movie before the Marvel logo actually tugged at my heart. Then the part after the credits had me laughing so hard I instantly knew this was going to be a perfect movie. And not a single moment of the movie disappointed me. I laughed and I laughed, and I was excited, and I grew more excited, and I laughed some more. It was the best time I've had at the movies in years. It has been forever since I left a theater that excited to see a movie again. And I plan to see it many more times.
Thank you, Marvel, for giving me a new favorite movie.