Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review (spoiler free) What Mom And Dads Need to Know
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has been highly anticipated by Marvel fans, but is it appropriate for your kiddos? Don’t worry, I have a Mom Approved spoiler free Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review to the rescue!
The Storyline:
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the extraordinary adventures of Peter Quill (Star-Lord) and his unlikely team of heroes as they continue to protect the universe as honorable mercenaries after their victory on Xandar.
With Awesome Mixtape #2 in hand, Vol. 2 explores how this unlikely band of misfits tries to find their groove as a “family” and Peter Quill’s true heritage.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a funny expansion of the original movie with plenty of surprises, a surprising amount of heart, a ton of language and heavy sexual innuendo. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. is most assuredly a movie for bigger Marvel fans (and it’s awesome!!).
I do suggest seeing the original Guardians of the Galaxy (if you have not) before watching Vol. 2 so the plot and character dynamics make more sense to you.
What parents should consider:
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 well deserved its PG-13 rating for lots of language, MAJOR sexual innuendo, violence and high body count. I would even say a hard PG-13 rating.
- Language! If you saw the first one, you kinda know what you are getting. Plenty of “normal” curse words starting with s_it, da_n, b–tch, a-s, etc and an implied f word. There are cruder sexual references made while using words “nether regions” penis and scrotum, and my least favorite, several uses of the words D–che bag (not sure why that bothers me more than the use of “don’t be a di-k” in the movie) but it does.
- Lots of sexy stuff- there is a pretty crude “flirting” conversation between a male a female character. No “live” sexual acts are shown, but several scenes of the movie go into detail discussing the elements procreation (from the male side, no discussion of the female elements required). There is a major scene centered around the how/when/where/why of the conception of Peter Quill. There are “impressionistic human statues” (no body part details) shown (upright) with their “bodies” wrapped around each other in the implied act of sex. The use of verbal and visual references at the same time may connect a few dots you don’t want connected yet.
- Screen violence is about the same as the first movie, but there is a very high body count.
- There is a death shown caused from being exposed to space (not real pretty)
- There is primary character death (not telling who)
- Monsters: the initial scene with the giant octopus-on-steroids space monster with 30,000 teeth you have seen in the trailers is really the only monster, so you know what you are getting. A few characters from around the galaxy have creepy faces, but nothing really to worry about.
- Heads up! If there are any father issues of any kind (because this one hits on a bunch of them), this may bring up conversations (and you may love Guardians for it!): abandonment, father figures, absentee, adoptive relationships etc. if you have specific concerns, or need more detail email me and I can share spoilers if you need them.
What parents don’t need to worry about:
- There are no scenes I would cover my tweenager’s eyes for, not overly gory for that age
- Affirmation how family can be anyone you care about
- Awesome soundtrack!!
- TONS of funny 80’s kid references
- Baby Groot is beyond adorable
Should your kiddos watch Guardians of the Galaxy?
It REALLY depends on your kiddo, but my biggest apprehension would be the connecting the dots of procreation and introducing words like D–che bag into their vocabulary.
If you have had the “you need to wear deodorant and you may notice some changes” conversation and your kids know animals mate to have babies, but you have not the “full conversation” about people, you may want to preview this before taking your children/tweens, because they may glean more logistical knowledge from this movie than you may be comfortable with.
My thoughts and overall Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review:
I cried twice. In a Marvel movie. Twice! Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 differs from past Marvel movies because it has more heart than we have seen in previous movies.
I really enjoyed this movie. Will my kids watch it? Nope.
For the little one, this isn’t even an option (and she’s seen all of the Star Wars movies, but we still cover her eyes about once a movie). We will stick to Night Night Groot for her!
My tween and I really loved the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, so I’m pretty bummed I can’t share this one yet. There is simply too much HEAVY sexual innuendo. My husband and I are not wanting our son to glean the details of the birds and the bees from Marvel, though he knows some, there is too much that “connects the dots” and there is plenty of time for that! My tween boy was pretty bummed when we told him he needed to wait, because he really wanted to see Baby Groot.
Baby Groot’s cuteness factor truly rivals Baby Moana, but our tween will just have to wait for DVD so we can skip around or clips on Youtube. Vol. 2 earns it’s PG-13 rating, and like I said above I feel it is a hard PG-13. Personally I think this movie is being marketed a bit too much to the younger crowd, but it is my hope that parents will check up on it first before taking kids to see it!
The CGI was a bit hokey at times, but I loved Ego’s planet- it reminded me of a beautiful, brightly colored galactic Thomas Kincade painting.
Photo: Marvel Studios
Director James Gunn made great decisions with the soundtrack, it earns the title of Awesome mixtape #2.
Guardians of the Galaxy is VERY funny, heartfelt-yet filled with plenty of Guardian-esque action and snark, loads of cameos, great 80’s references, fun plot surprises, and introduces few new characters laying the groundwork for Vol. 3.
Mom Approved Tip: Spring for the upgraded tickets. I watched this one in IMAX 3D and this is a movie is definitely worth the upgrade!
Now run and grab those tickets with your big kids and don’t forget to stay through the credits!#GotGVol2
Disclosure: For this review I viewed a complementary screening of the film, but all opinions are my own and I am not compensated in any way for my statements or review. This post and site may contain affiliate links.
