Comes very close to matching the original

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2017)

Sequels are often plagued by sequelitis, which is of course the technical term for the need for a sequel to be almost the exact same thing as the original hit except bigger, faster, stronger and far more outlandish. This film neatly avoids that. Partly because the original already was so outlandish that you can really only go down a notch from there.
But, in all honesty, Guardians Vol. 2 works exactly as a sequel should. It continues the story. The Guardians have already met, they are a team, and thus the film is about them working as a team and learning to be a team. It also deepens the characters. We learn a huge deal about all of the returning characters, including the Ravager boss Yondu played by Michael Rooker, hands down my favourite part of the film. But we also learn a lot about Peter (Chris Pratt) and the film's main story is about him learning about his heritage. We'll get to that in a moment.
But a good sequel also needs to retain the good parts of the original. And this definitely does. It's just as colourful, just as imaginative, just as laid back and just as much fun as the original. It feels exactly like a Guardians sequel should feel. Sure the novelty is no longer there, but that's the price we inevitably have to pay.
And that lack of novelty is really one of two things keeping this from being as good as the original. The other thing being the story. The original story wasn't perfect either, suffering from a weak villain and some various hiccups. But it kept together very nicely and was a genuinely good origins story, especially keeping in mind the size of the cast. In this film the villain starts out much better, but ends on a sour note. The film is also all over the place story-wise. This isn't a huge problem because the characters and the humour are what people come to see, and both of are great, but it still means that it simply doesn't deliver as much of a punch as the original did.
Nevertheless, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is one of the best Marvel sequels to day and a great watch for anyone looking for a scifi film that knows how to entertain.