Guardians of the Galaxy is the type of science fiction made for people that aren’t fans of science fiction. The main character, Peter Quill, is the ultimate fish out of water as he is a human (well, sort of) living among aliens in the galaxy. He is the football jock / party dude who portrays a sense of the American abroad stereotype. He brash and unwilling to completely become immersed in the myriad of alien cultures he is surrounded by. As long as he has his Earth tunes, the audience will be reminded that he’s an Earth guy having fun in the galaxy.

For me, as a side commentary I kept thinking about Star Trek: Nemesis with its central plot being about the clone of Picard growing up with the Remans on Romulus. I would have figured a colder and more hardened person emerging from being abducted from their home planet soon after his mother’s death and the only thing that keeps him connected to those memories is a mix tape. However, that would be me putting too much thought into the motivation of the main character in this movie.

This is a summer movie and reminds me a lot of December of 1980 when I saw Flash Gordon. GOTG is a fun movie. It has gaps in logic, some cardboard villains and corny dialog, but what makes this surprisingly fun is that with its central cast of characters, this movie makes a point of fleshing out their back stories and making you care for them. As an example, Rocket and Groot could have been nothing more than toy tie ins or lame dispensers of humor, but the writers took time to develop their characters. I have to admit I was surprised at how Bradley Cooper’s voice worked for Rocket and Vin Diesel had three lines to say (I am Groot) but he made the best of emoting with those three lines. I know the animation of the character helped too.

Like I said, this is a pure summer movie. It worked on a character level, it worked on a spectacle level and is a great movie for young and old alike.