Same old, same old 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

My quibbles with the new Guardians of the Galaxy are pretty much the same ones I had with the original. This being a bigger, bloated and highly anticipated sequel -- it manages to exacerbate what I didn't love about the first one, and it's put me solidly in a the very small camp of viewers who isn't totally sold on the series. I find the characters charming and, at times, adorable. I went into this film thinking that the "Baby Groot" conceit would grow cloying and annoying, but the character is actually used to great effect here and I must admit the joy of the child seated next to me, who giggled every time he appeared on screen, was infectious.

There is a lot of good humor in this film and the performers (especially David Bautista as the no filter Drax) really throw themselves into the movie with glee and abandon, but for me, the movie collapses under the weight of too many special effects, too many characters, too much plot -- and stereotypical Marvel excess.

This won't turn off diehard fans, who will flock to this regardless of reviews or quality. And there are some very nifty, visually dynamic action set pieces here. I will also throw this movie a bone for trying to reach for more emotional payoffs than the original, although few of those notes actually land and instead can feel clunky when juxtaposed with the film's plethora of jokes.

And this film is also lathered in catchy, lovable 1970s music and the air of nostalgia permeates nearly every frame (as does the cast, featuring 1980s throwbacks Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, who are unfortunately both misused and wasted in their roles). But this is part of what has always irritated me to some extent with the Guardians films, they want to have their cake an eat it too.

They want to pose as a break with Marvel tradition -- a quirky mix of bizarro creatures and planets, mixed with a bickering but endearing cohort of misfits (although their feuding feels more tiresome this time around) but the films never put as much time and energy into their stories as their accoutrements.

I much prefer a film like Captain America: Civil War which ratcheted up real tensions and stakes between its core characters and set up a much more engrossing plot. Not unlike, the original Guardians, the story here is diffuse at best. There is a theme of fathers and sons but I wouldn't describe the movie as particularly tense or exciting, it's more bemusing throughout.

If there is a Vol. 3, and presuming this movie performs anything like the original, I don't see why there won't be -- the series would do well to field a very imposing and truly scary villain. These kinds of films are always elevated by a great bad guy (think Loki) and these films really cry out for one.

For now though, they seem content to be cute and insubstantial. And while perhaps the filmmakers' fidelity to a certain kind of analog aesthetic may be heartfelt, it's an uneasy fit for a film that bombards you with all manner of computer generated 'stuff.'

But of course this 'same old, same old' I'm describing is precisely what fans love the most about the Guardians series. I get that people love these movies because of their humor and upbeat tone, so I may just not have the right sensibility.

For instance, there are people who swear by Deadpool, which I felt was a sort of cynical co-opting of a certain kind of cool attitude that just didn't feel real to me. And nothing about this film feels genuine either, although I did genuinely enjoy parts of it as I watched it.

I just can't shake the feeling though that I was just watching an elaborate device to sell toys, t-shirts and future movie franchises.