Here's what Film Crit Hulk had to say:

Marvel's big gamble pays off as James Gunn's space opera is fun, smart and surprisingly emotional.

There are three things that make Ghostbusters work: it’s funny, it functions as an actual movie outside of the comedy and the characters are great. These three things are apparently very hard to stuff into one movie, because it is so rare to find a film that pulls them all off. But without all three a funny adventure movie is lopsided, off-balance and ultimately not that good.

Guardians of the Galaxy pulls off all three, and with such adroit surety that it makes you wonder why almost nobody else has been doing the same for the last thirty years. There’s a central structure - a MacGuffin chase predicated on reversals and betrayals - that keeps the story moving like a freight train, and there are plenty of laughs and jokes along the way. But what makes Guardians of the Galaxy a film that is in the same league as Ghostbusters are the characters; these are characters with real heart and soul, fully formed people who are exciting and funny and wounded in equal measure. You laugh because the jokes are good, you clap because the action is awesome, but you get emotional because you care about the characters. And when the credits roll you walk out of the theater fully in love with these five criminally-inclined misfits who end up not a team but a family.

Those complaining about a perceived sameness in the Marvel Cinematic Universe* are going to have to bend over backwards to find that issue in Guardians; the film is a work of unfettered imagination that mixes a colorful palette with a lived-in scifi grittiness. This movie seems to have escaped the standard Marvel post-production pipeline that flattens the look of so many other Marvel movies. Even the 3D is a step above most Marvel 3D, usually thrown in as an afterthought.

Of course Guardians, like all Marvel movies, are the anti-Batman films - the heroes are almost always more interesting than the villains. And I like it that way, because I like having these engaging, fun and lovable heroes at the center of lots of big, epic action. I know Marvel tends to nickel and dime directors, but whatever budget Gunn had he put all of it, and then some, on screen. The movie brings you from a diversely populated alien prison to a diversely populated alien city to a diversely populated alien mining town, any of which make Thor’s desert town look even chintzier than it already was. This is big, it’s a whole new side of the universe, populated with cool creatures, awesome Nova ships, and weird societies, and Gunn is bringing you to as much of it as he can.

Make no mistake, it’s James Gunn bringing you along. Just as Shane Black was able to battle the Marvel creative committee enough to get his own personality on Iron Man Three, James Gunn imprints more than a little bit of himself on Guardians of the Galaxy. The humor is sometimes dark, often a little crude and constantly smart. Gunn’s always been a fan of jarring tonal shifts, and while they’re more modulated here, Guardians changes tones like a car changes lanes. And most of all the film leans into what Gunn does best - bringing slightly broken, off-beat characters to three-dimensional life. Gunn loves the weirdos and losers in his movies, and Guardians is no different. Gunn even has affection for his villains (especially Nebula, which is why I really believe she’s going to get some meat in the next film).

Guardians of the Galaxy is what you hope for in a summer movie - a non-stop adventure that never talks down to you and that features fully-fleshed out characters who might fight but, in the end, love each other. There are some trying to rehabilitate the image of Gore Verbinski’s dire The Lone Ranger, but what can never be rehabilitated is the hateful relationship between the leads. Who wants to watch two hours of blockbuster where even the leads don’t want to be there? The Guardians of the Galaxy come together first out of circumstance and eventually out of love, creating a family unit out of misfits and loners. That's the kind of team I want to be on.