Has its moments, but its uneven tone makes it hard to enjoy

Rating: 6/10 (10 May 2017)

Let me start by saying that I, like many others, am a fan of the first film. If I'm being truly honest, I'm a big fan of the MCU as a whole. I eagerly await the next installment in the series and this film was no exception. That's why I left the theater kind of disappointed. I was expecting a different film from the first (in fact, I detest blatant rehashes of previous films such as "The Force Awakens"). It starts with a battle against a monster wanting to devour some batteries, but instead of seeing the action we get what seems like an eternity of Baby Groot dancing. I felt like I had wandered into a bad kid's film. After some dialogue and space battles the story continues, but then takes an unexpected turn into dark territory when the Ravagers mutiny against Yondu and execute his loyalists by putting them in the airlock and releasing them into space, mocking them as they slowly die in what is revealed to be a mass graveyard of dead, frozen bodies. It was like half the script was written by the writing crew of Veggie Tales and the other half by Frank Miller. The film can't decide if it wants to be cutesy family fun with Baby Groot being front-and-center or if it wants to be dark and gritty, and as such the charm of the previous film is lost.
Another disappointment was the Chris Pratt. He seemed tired, reading his lines like he just woke up from a deep sleep. There were moments here and there when Star Lord shone through the screen in all his sarcastic glory (the scene where he tells Ego about what he wants to create made my sides hurt), but then went back to Ambien Lord. In my opinion, Dave Bautista steals the film as Drax. His raucous laughter, chemistry with the other characters (especially with the cute-beyond-belief Mantis), and his brutal honesty made for the most entertaining moments of the film.