If one were to draw a Venn diagram of the best attributes of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the circles would include the following: adorable space aliens, nostalgic/cheesy '70s/'80s music, clever family-friendly humor, unconventional storytelling (for a Marvel movie), somewhat autonomy from the greater Marvel universe, and fuzzy team camaraderie.

This is why, upon its release in 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy became the third highest-grossing Marvel movie and earned a stunning 91 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It captured everything great about the Marvel universe while still feeling removed from the corporate mega-dollar franchise. The much-anticipated sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy was released last week, and parts of the movie hit one of these circles, other parts hit multiple circles, and others miss the diagram entirely.

But there's absolutely one scene that is at the center intersection of the franchise's best qualities.

This scene comes early on in the movie. After a brief flashback, which introduces young Kurt Russell as Ego, Star-Lord's father, we're taken far away from Earth, away from Captain America, Iron Man, and the other comparatively minuscule problems of the rest of the Avengers. We arrive at the far depths of the universe, where the Guardians of the Galaxy are called upon to defend some expensive space batteries for a diva alien race called the Sovereign.

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As they're waiting to defend the batteries, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) cocks her weapon, and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) asks, "Is that a rifle?"

"You don't know what a rifle looks like?" she responds.

"It's just swords were your thing and guns were mine, but I guess we're both doing guns now," he replies. "I just didn't know that."

Meanwhile, instead of getting together a big trap for the aliens that are about to attack them, Rocket has been trying to figure out music for them to listen to.

Ah yes, the gang is back together. But before there's any more time for a reunion, the alien arrives—a squid thing with some sort of anus mouth filled with teeth. This is precisely where any other superhero movie—Marvel or otherwise—would begin a capital-E Epic space battle. Instead, we cut to Baby Groot.

Long before the movie had been out, Baby Groot toys, desk pots, shirts, stuffed animals—you name it—had already been a thing. Groot from the first film was already a fan favorite, and killing him off and having him reborn phoenix-like as Baby Groot, who is the same dumb and lovable tree but immensely cuter, only made the character more popular. I can safely say that in a culture where there's something problematic about everything, there's nothing wrong with Baby Groot. The people want Baby Groot. And in this scene, that's what they get.

Baby Groot plugs in the music, blasts Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky," and starts dancing around the arena as the team fights. The camera stays focused on Baby Groot dancing, while the battle rages in the peripheral behind him. The rest of the Guardians go in and out of the frame interacting with Baby Groot and each other, and all of it plays out as unconcerned and unconventional as we've come to love from these movies.

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So, let's go back through that Venn diagram.

We have adorable space aliens: Baby Groot—not the squid anus thing. In this film, Baby Groot often plays an important role in their adventures. He's the emotional one, he's the small one, and he's comic relief.

There's nostalgic music: ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" is on a soundtrack with Fleetwood Mac, Sam Cooke, Cat Stevens, Cheap Trick, Parliament. "I've always said that if the Guardians had a house band, it would be ELO," director James Gunn recently told Rolling Stone. The music in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies is a character of its own, linking Quill to his own past and this space adventure back to earth. It highlights the carefree and cool-without-trying-to-be-cool attitude. But there's another reason this music is important: It connects to this romantic idea that music isn't restrained to our own planet, our own galaxy—that there are aliens out there millions of light years away jamming to "The Chain." It makes us feel less alone, more connected.

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Which brings us to the Guardians' camaraderie. By far the most unique and lovable characters in the Marvel universe, this is a scene that explores each—complete with the humourless Drax thinking he killed the squid anus (he did not). A gang of strong personalities sometimes at odds (kinda like Fleetwood Mac as a band!) is a good base for drama. But at times in this sequel it feels like it's just tapping into the formula that Marvel already explored in Captain America: Civil War.

We also have the family-friendly humor, which often lands thanks to Drax and Baby Groot. And, most importantly, there's the unconventional storytelling and the autonomy from the greater Marvel franchise. Watching a little tree dance instead of showing an epic space battle certainly seems like something a studio exec would nix at the drawing boards, but because Guardians has created this outsiders attitude, it completely flies here.

If only the entire film stayed true to this ideal. Certain scenes, like this one, get pretty close to hitting all the criteria of the perfect Guardians experience. But on a macro level, it seems more formulaic than some of the less-inspired Marvel movies. The plot, which at its core is like something from an '80s sitcom, is mostly a mess. What it boils down to is Ego has been traveling from planet to planet literally and metaphorically planting his seed in order to dominate the universe like a sleazy, deadbeat dad-villain. Besides the whole planet and god thing, it's a story you've seen a million times over. And even the removal from the larger Marvel conglomerate is starting to vanish, as you see near the end of Vol. 2; it's clear how the Guardians' connection with the rest of the universe (and soon to be other heroes) is inevitable.

At this point, even though Vol. 2 didn't live up to its predecessor, the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is still good. Scenes like this one are proof that the Guardians attitude is still alive, and these moments alone are enough to save the Marvel series until its inevitable Vol. 3.

From: Esquire US