Did I miss something?

Rating: 6/10 (15 August 2014)

Everyone said this movie was fantastic. As a big superhero and Marvel fan, I obviously went and saw it. I'm not so sure I saw the same movie as everyone else who loved it. I'll start with the exposition. Peter Quill, a young boy on Earth witnesses his mother die. OK. This was clearly supposed to make me sad. Let's face it, though, every superhero has lost one or both parents. Plus,I didn't know anything about this character so it was hard for me to care about him. It was supposed to be dramatic and intense, but it was just a big pile of meh.
But that's OK! Because now we get into the meat of the story. Peter is all grown up and played by Chris Pratt and he's... a thief? OK. I can cheer for thieves, I guess. I like the Italian Job. But I'm a little confused that the other thief (Some blue alien whose name I forget two seconds after they say it) who was his partner and got ripped off is not supposed to be cheered for. He doesn't seem much worse than Quill to me. What, we hate him because he is blue? Oh, sure, he turns out a lot worse at the end, but come on. Up until that point the protagonist is just as bad, if not worse, than him. Speaking of questionable morals, how about Bradley Cooper's Rocket? Only motivated by money. He's only on the good guy team because he can make a truckload of cash. I struggled to cheer for him. Also, I am a huge Batista fan, and was excited to see him in this one. Disappointed. His character has no reason to be there. He doesn't contribute anything to the story except make things harder for everyone else and get his butt kicked a few times. I was hoping the WWE star would show us his physical prowess by actually WINNING a fight here and there. The only physical prowess he shows is LOOKING really big and intimidating. Speaking of looks, this movie is very pretty. I will concede that. Excellent CGI. But in today's age of Avatar and Gravity, I just can't be impressed too much by CGI anymore. It doesn't have the same effect in the modern age of movies. Overall, this movie is OK. It holds up with other Marvel titles and I'm sure as the characters are explored a little more, I'll find more joy in it. But frankly, I was pumped for this movie and let down. And I really TRIED to enjoy. I found myself forcing myself to laugh at Bradley Cooper's remarks and attempting to feel sorry for the tragedies the various characters went through, but I really just couldn't care about the characters. I don't know these people. They aren't Iron Man, Hulk, or Captain America. They are... Starlord, Queen Ghidorah(?), Raccoon dude, Groot (You are forced to remember that one), and unintelligent beefcake alien. They don't fight Loki, they fight some cowboy alien and some blue dude with an infinity stone (OK...). Thanos is there too. He's also important. I guess. Meh.