Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge movie, and it was super popular. Everyone I knew who watched it loved it. So, not wanting to miss out on the fun, I decided to watch it too. But if I’m being completely honest, I was a bit reluctant to do so. I read the plot—guy travels to different planets, meeting different species, trying to stop the evil villain—I thought man, this sounds a lot like Star Wars. I  did not want to see yet another wannabe Star Wars movie.

In one of the opening scenes, the main character, named Quill (Chris Pratt), is taking an orb in a mysterious cave place. I’m thinking wow, a cliche in the first five minutes, huh? I stopped paying attention for a few seconds, out of annoyance that I’m watching this movie I already hate. But then something caught my attention. Wait, Quill’s dancing? Sure enough, after he stole the orb, he was playing “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone through his headphones and was dancing all over the cave, celebrating. He was doing leg kicks through the water, had a few spins in there, I laughed out loud. At this point I knew how wrong I was. This was not going to be Star Wars. This was going to be an action movie with a whole lot of comedy in it. I was now interested.

It won’t be long until the other characters of the movie come up, like Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel). Rocket is a racoon like creature who talks a lot and is super sarcastic, probably my favorite character of the movie. And Groot is a tree. An actual tree. That can walk. And can only say “I am Groot,” but no one but Rocket can understand him. This is getting weird, I think to myself. But you know what? Weird is ok. If Star Wars can have a big hairy Chewbacca that only talks by grunting, this movie can have Groot.

Then Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista) are introduced. Gamora is the daughter of the evil villain, who wants to make things right and stop her dad from destroying the galaxy. Meanwhile, Drax is a big strong alien whose intelligence is not of the highest level. And, quite frankly, the two hate each other, because Gamora’s father tried to kill off Drax’s species. Yet, the two work together, and help Quill save the galaxy. This creates an interesting and important concept of the movie, that a loosely tied group, with not much in common, work together to try to save the galaxy. It has sort of a Breakfast Club feel to it.

And then there’s Yondu (Michael Rooker). He’s blue and whistles a lot. That’s pretty much as good as I can describe him. He’s not really in the group that helps save the universe, but he is friends with Quill and helps him out during his struggles. But then he turns against Quill halfway through the movie and hunts him down. Weird.

That’s what this movie is. It’s weird. I mean, the group that stops the villain consists of Quill, a talking Racoon, a walking tree, the daughter of the villain, and a big strong creature of a species that was killed off by the same daughter’s people.

But if you think about it, almost all great movies are weird. Take Back to the Future. People literally travel to the future, in a car. Weird. The Wizard of Oz. A tornado takes a girl to somewhere where there are talking scarecrows, tin mans, and lions? Weird.

But within the weirdness of this movie is a whole lot of comedy. Rocket cracks dry humor jokes every five minutes, making fun of how dysfunctional the group is, and it’s super funny to watch the group go through some of their struggles. After all, they are five completely different species trying to save the galaxy. A great example of this is when Quill gets frustrated when he can’t understand Groot when he talks.

I would definitely recommend this movie. It’s funny, there’s action, and the characters are very relatable. We all know a Rocket. We all know a Drax. The plot, while a bit confusing, such as which side Yondu is really on, is filled with twists and turns that will leave you glued to your seat.  

No, it’s not Star Wars. It’s not Star Trek. It’s plot doesn’t match up to The Avengers. But it’s a whole lot funnier. It’s its own style of weird comedy action. I know I sure enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a few laughs while watching a well thought out movie.