By Zach Schanzenbach

Senior Staff Writer

RATING: 4/5 paws

It’s not as iconic as “The Avengers”, and it’s not as deep as “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, but “Guardians of the Galaxy” is great fun to watch.

Older folks will enjoy the throwback 80’s music, while fans of sci-fi and/or Marvel will also have a fun time.  Chris Pratt, who landed his first leading role in “The Lego Movie” earlier last year, hit the box office on the head with this one as Peter Quill (a.k.a Starlord). Supporting characters Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) are also great fun, and the dynamics between these different figures makes for an interesting team, one more dynamic than the Avengers. Groot (Vin Diesel) is, quite literally, a breath of fresh air, as the most innocent and heartwarming character in the movie.  Though he is a tree of few words (literally), he speaks more volumes than most of the other characters.

Hardcore Marvel fans will also be happy with the nod this movie gives to “Avengers” with a brief cameo by the dark character “The Other,” as well as a humorous scene at the end featuring the infamous Howard the Duck.  We finally get our first, full glimpse of the villain Thanos, who briefly appeared at the end of “Avengers.”

On the downside, Ronan the Destroyer and his assistants don’t break a lot of ground as villains.  And why is there so much swearing?  I know it’s typical of a movie like this to include swearing, but I just thought it was a little too much here. Well, I guess that’s what Groot’s for.