Guardians of the Galaxy is a 2014 film directed and co-written by James Gunn, and starring Chris Pratt (Zero Dark Thirty) and Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Star Trek – Into Darkness & Avatar). The movie is rated PG-13. Click here for a detailed examination of the film’s rating.

Guardians of the Galaxy is based on the Marvel comics dating back to 1969. Generally, I’m not a fan of comic book movies. The stars of these films tend to be nearly indestructible superheroes and this leads to implausible plots about how they might be hurt, as seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Often villains are the most interesting characters (Suicide Squad) and watching interesting bad guys is not why I go to the movies.

However, with Guardians of the Galaxy, we have a cast of relatively average people. Peter Quill, Chris Pratt, was kidnapped from Earth as a child. Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana, is a green alien orphan raised as a warrior and trained as an assassin. Drax, Dave Bautista, is a distraught man seeking revenge for the murder of his family. Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, is a genetically altered raccoon with issues about his heritage and height. Last, there is Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, a tree-like humanoid, with a three-word vocabulary. Okay, maybe they’re not average, but this is a motley crew that I can get involved with and enjoy watching.

In some ways, Guardians of the Galaxy is a Star Wars style hero’s journey movie with Chris Pratt playing a Han Solo-like character and Zoe Saldana as the princess love interest. In other ways, the film is a space western movie like Serenity and the original television show Firefly. Star Wars, Serenity or Firefly, It really doesn’t matter to me, I liked all of them.

This is a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, or perhaps just seriously enough. It opens with a dying mother but quickly moves on to Chris Pratt dancing and lip-synching to Come and Get Your Love. In the closing credits, the audience is assured that “No raccoons or tree creatures were harmed during the making of this film.”

If you’re looking for a fun movie that doesn’t require much thought about plot or characters Guardians of the Galaxy is a movie that you’ll enjoy. Recommendation: Buy the ticket and see it in the theater.