Brain candy

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, make no mistake, is a barrel of fun. It’s marred—if that isn’t too strong a word—only by the suspicion that the fun won’t last long once we leave the theater. Maybe that’s writer-director James Gunn’s plan—a ploy to encourage repeat business, bringing fans back to see it over and over again, to revisit the thrill, the way tourists line up in the Disney parks to ride Star Tours time after time. If that was the idea, Gunn might have been smarter to make the movie 20 or 30 minutes shorter and leave us wanting more; after 2 hours and 18 minutes, once we’ve sat through all the teaser scenes crammed into the credits, we’re ready for Gunn to wind things up and let us all go home.

The afterglow may not carry all the way to our cars, but it shines brightly while it lasts. All of the Guardians from the 2014 original are back, being smart actors who know a steady job when they see one: Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, the half-alien leader of the pack; Zoe Saldana as Gamora, the green-skinned trained-assassin-turned-ally; Dave Bautista as Drax, the hulking comic relief; and Bradley Cooper as the voice of the varmint Rocket, swapping wisecracks with Drax. Even Vin Diesel’s tree-creature Groot, sacrificed the first time around, returns, in the form of an adorable (if slightly dim) little sapling, literally a chip off the old block.

Gunn throws some newbies into the mix, beginning in a 1980 prologue featuring the 29-year-old Kurt Russell (through the same CGI magic that gave us Peter Cushing in Rogue One). Russell returns later (his present age but still looking great) as Ego, Quill’s biological father, hunting up his offspring for a family reunion (and providing one of the movie’s few quiet pleasures as dad and son play catch with a ball of light). Ego’s name should be a tipoff that the old man has ulterior motives—but let’s not arouse the Spoiler Police by going there.

Gunn’s nicest touch—and sufficient reason to look forward to Vol. 3 in a couple of years—is Mantis (Pom Klementieff), a humanoid “empath” with (as the name suggests) insect features and a sweetly seductive, openhearted guilelessness. Praying mantises are said to bring luck; this one certainly does to Guardians. With a little more luck, the hitherto unknown Klementieff of Quebec may parlay the role into real stardom.

Once the prologue is over and we’re in space again, events and creatures assail us with dizzying speed. But not to worry, Gunn’s plot is clearer and more straightforward this time around, underscoring heartwarming themes of friendship and family and set to yet another killer soundtrack of ’80s pop oldies. (Buy the soundtrack!)

On my way out of the theater I bought a bag of cotton candy—zero nutrition, and I was still hungry, but it tasted great even as it melted in my mouth. Somehow it seemed appropriate.