Anything other than a famously large turd

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2017)

The original Guardians of the Galaxy is still my favourite of all the Marvel films, so a sequel to it was always going to be something to look forward to but also with some trepidation in case something goes horribly wrong which spoils the first film.
Thankfully the film is a delight from the very start, and I do mean the very start. After a brief prologue you get the battle with the big snarly flying space octopus thingy with big teeth which has been heavily featured in the trailers played out over the credits. However your eyes are fixed only upon baby Groot dancing to ELO's Mr Blue Sky whilst chaos reigns in the background. If you don't have a huge smile at this intro you might as well stop going to the cinema! That smile stays with you throughout the film with genuine laugh out loud moments coming thick and fast.
All the main five Guardians play out their parts brilliantly, with extended roles for Nebula and especially Yondu which adds to the delight. New characters such as Mantis and Ego are really well cast and played, and it is clear that what initially look like very small parts are intended for further things either within the Guardians films or as off-shoots.
You will have to have seen the first film to really get this, though it doesn't need any real knowledge of the other films in the Marvel cannon. Marvel geeks ( I hold my hands up to that) will also love all the references that abound. I'm sure that there are some that I missed on first viewing. I may have even imagined some expecting them to be there, such as a distinct Dark Star vibe to Ego's first entry on top of his spacecraft ( possibly a John Carpenter nod, but again maybe something I have over thought)
Okay it doesn't have that freshness of the original but it's a sequel so what do you expect. Fabulous from start to finish. Go see it and come out of the cinema with a smile