'Guardians 2': 'Not as funny' but eyeing box office jackpot

Los Angeles : Three years ago, "Guardians of the Galaxy" arrived as a breath of fresh air, a smart corrective to the self-important pomposity of many superhero movies, and proved a box office smash.

Before the world had heard of "Deadpool," James Gunn's ironic, wisecracking contribution to the Marvel universe became the surprise critical and commercial hit of the summer of 2014, taking in $770 million.

Now his long-awaited encore, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," continues the screwball adventures of the first film's spacefaring misfits as the jolly, B-movie vibe carries them to the outer reaches of the cosmos.

The story picks up with the squabbling Guardians fighting to keep their surrogate family together as Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) has daddy issues with a swaggering demigod who happens to be a living planet known as Ego (Kurt Russell).

"Star Wars" fans are unlikely to be struck by the originality of a father-son space opera, but there is plenty more family drama as Gamora (Zoe Saldana) faces down her malevolent cyborg sister Nebula (Karen Gillian).

Meanwhile, muscleman Drax (Dave Bautista) gets close to a cute little alien with emotion-reading antennae (Pom Klementieff), Bradley Cooper returns to voice the snarky raccoon Rocket, and a star-studded back-up ensemble includes Sylvester Stallone and Glenn Close.

Rocket's CGI stablemate Baby Groot -- a talking ten-inch seedling voiced by Vin Diesel -- steals the show by shimmying adorably to the Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr Blue Sky."

"Guardians 2" is expected to enjoy one of the biggest opening weekends ever with critics agreed that its sharp one-liners make it -- like its predecessor -- a cut above the average superhero fare.