The entire movie is about love of family. Every scene. I can't think of an exception-- every scene is about the families we choose in life and the prices we pay for letting ego stand in the way of embracing those families. Starlord and his dad, Rocket and Starlord, Gamora and Starlord, Gamora and Nebula, Yando and Starlord, Yando and his Ravagers, Yando and the larger collective of Ravagers, the Sovereign and the price they pay for attempting not to lose face. Even Drax and the nipple irritation gag reflects the theme! The whole thing is almost *too* on the nose with the villain they selected.

All the way down to the Baby Groot antics-- they're busy bickering at one another and pushing each other away, but Groot, who made the ultimate sacrifice for them last film, is parentally protected by every Guardian at every turn. It becomes more than just cuteness shtick-- it's a simple and effective way of showing us how it's easy to love someone/something who gives you that unconditional, selfless expression of love, but it's a lot harder to love others who struggle with that selflessness. I thought it was one of the more brilliant ways of balancing theme and corporate action figure/stuffed animal interests that I've seen in some time.

I thought it was still a remarkably tight film for Marvel-- every scene has thematic relevance, every scene has payoff in this film (save for the post-credit scenes, but whatever). On top of this, it's very exciting, very funny, and astonishingly well-acted-- it's easy to give Pratt shit for just charming and swaggering his way through films as of late, but he has some tricky tonal shit here that he really nails.

And Drax is maybe the best character in the Marvel Universe-- he embraces how much we love when heroes do stupid and dangerous shit *and* he manages to make us laugh at that impulse.

I've only seen it once, so maybe I'll find some scenes that *don't* work for me-- some of the gags may have been hammered a little hard, but that was true of the first film as well, so I don't mind-- but after one viewing, it seems like this Guardians trilogy might end up the crowning jewel of the MCU. They stand alone, they have very little of the "let's tease the next film" shit, they are beautifully shot, smartly written, badass in their action scenes, and overall immensely rewatchable. I'd put Guardians 1 and 2 above any of the 1 and 2s in the MCU so far.