Raccoons gone wild . . .

Rating: 8/10 (6 August 2014)

. . . is the main theme of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Anyone who lives in Raccoon Country can identify with the problems faced by Yondu Udonta, Korath, Ronan, and The Collector because of Rocket the Raccoon. Most zoologists consider the raccoon's Procyonid clan just half a twig away from the rodents on the mammalian family tree, which includes rats and Sciuridae (such as Rocky the Flying Squirrel). All these undesirable critters carry rabies, which may well account for Rocket's crazed expression throughout GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Any group which numbers Procyonids among its members really cannot claim to be "guardians" of the school bus, let alone an entire galaxy. How would you like it if your little one got off the bus one day and said, "Pops, you need to take me into the doc's office every week for two months so I can get $4,500 of rabies vaccine injected into my butt because Rocket was having a bad hair day and nipped at me"? I think that Marvel and Disney are being highly irresponsible encouraging the spread of rabies through this unjustified promotion of raccoons as fictional role models or "guardians." (They also have a knack of getting into people's garbage cans and bins and tearing the stuffings out of neatly bagged refuse, as you'll see if you watch the otherwise passable GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.)