Great Comedy, Convoluted Plot

Rating: 6/10 (3 May 2017)

GOTG vol. 2 certainly has a lot going for it and right from the opening sequence you can tell it's going to be fun. Overall I liked what the story wanted to be, but it just went a bit too much in the end. The heroes are great, funny, and well written. The bad-guy, long-lost-father is predictable and shallow. Toddler (not really a Baby) Groot is seriously cool and really lightens the mood throughout. The final battle sequence is visually striking, but way too convoluted and far-fetched even for a fantasy film. Sometimes all the Digital is just not physics relate-able.The best character development of the entire ride was Gamora and her sister Nebula. In a scene where they are genuinely trying to kill each other it is a believable feud. The story between Star Lord and his father Ego was bubble-gummy (playing catch in the backyard) and I saw his bad-guy turn very early on in the film. Why do writers have to have heroes always fall for the over-the-top promises of the villain? It reminded of me the Allegiant plot, where Woodley's Tris falls for all the mumbo-jumbo of the others once outside the city. I saw this in 3D at an advance press screening on 05/02/2017in an ATMOS theater. The 3D was pretty good, but a lot of the effects were muddled by all of the goings on in various battle, fight, destruction scenes, taking away from the overall effect and pulling me "out" of the movie at critical times. Overall this movie is a C+ for its execution.