About.com Rating

Bottom Line: Guardians of the Galaxy is a Marvel super hero flick with a quirky character all its own. Parents should know that this Marvel flick contains a similar level of violence as other Disney/Marvel films, but it contains significantly more crude and rude humor and phrases that kids may be tempted to repeat.

MPAA Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language
Genre: Action/adventure/Sci-fi
Age recommendation: 12+
Runtime: 122 minutes
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker
Studio: Disney/Marvel
Release Date: August 1, 2014

Guardians of the Galaxy - Overview

Young Peter Quill is devastated when his mother passes away. But as he is grieving outside the hospital, a spaceship beams him up out of the blue. Years later, Peter is a space outlaw roaming the universe with a group of Ravengers.

When Peter steals a mysterious orb, planning to sell it, he suddenly finds himself a hunted man. Ronan, a ruthless villain intent on destroying an entire planet, desires the orb and will stop at nothing to get it. He sends Gamora, daughter of Thanos, to retrieve the orb from Peter. Two bounty hunters--a pumped up raccoon named Rocket and his sidekick, tree-man Groot--are also on Peter's tail. But when all these players clash and the dust settles, they realize that it might be to their advantage to work together.

Along with prison inmate Drax the Destroyer, Peter, Gamora, Rocket and Groot decide to sell the orb to a high very bidder and thwart Ronan in any way they can. But when they discover the immense power of the orb, they realize that they are the only ones standing in the way of imminent destruction.

With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, will this ragtag team of outlaws with chips on their shoulders be able to pull together and do the right thing?

Guardians of the Galaxy - Review for Parents

While Guardians of the Galaxy contains many of the same qualities as other recent Marvel blockbusters -- epic characters, interesting plot, huge action, and clever humor to name a few -- the movie has it's own brash tone and spoofy vibe. With a team of super "heroes" working together, Guardians probably most closely resembles Avengers. But where Avengers is clever and sarcastic, Guardians of the Galaxy is decidedly crude and irreverent. And while Avengers features strong, stereotypical super hero types like Thor and Iron Man, Guardians revolves around an eclectic group of outlaw types who, for the most part, don't seem like they could be described as hero.

Because the writing is well done and the story works, these qualities make Guardians of the Galaxy fresh and fun. And they also lend to numerous scenes with crude or rude humor kids will likely want to imitate, suggestive jokes that many kids won't get, and some raunchy violence (not heavy on blood and gore) that will make moms cringe. These Guardians, who have never been among the most popular characters in the Marvel universe, will likely experience a huge comeback with this movie.

Parents should know that the movie contains crude language and profanity. Kids may be wildly tempted to repeat phrases like, "bat s**t crazy," for example. Main character Peter Quill a.k.a. Star Lord, in addition to being a master of belittling his enemies and himself with crude humor, is also quite a ladies' man. He makes references to females he's been with and tells a number of suggestive jokes. The movie also contains significant violence throughout, with some of it being of a personal and somewhat disturbing nature, but not much blood or gore is shown.

The main characters in Guardians of the Galaxy certainly glamorize irreverence, brashness and the outlaw life. Though each has a back story to empathize with, and each proves themselves capable of doing the right thing at least some of the time.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Content Overview

Violence (Extreme): Guardians of the Galaxy contains significant action and violence throughout the movie. Some of the violence is epic, battle style violence with spaceships shooting at each other and planets being targeted, but there is also considerable personal violence that could be disturbing to some viewers. For example, a man is tied to a chair and a Kree soldier lifts a heavy metal hammer as the shot pans away just before the Kree bashes the man on top of the head. In other scenes characters are choked, run through with various objects, and disfigured and a beaten man is dragged down a street. The movie contains considerable hand to hand combat scenes throughout. Very little blood or gore is shown.

Scary Scenes (High): Any of the sequence listed under Violence could be frightening to kids. Kids may also be frightened by the scary look of some villains like Ronan. Also, kids may be disturbed by one scene in which a female human-like creature is chained in a glass cage and another is threatened that the same will happen to her.

Sex/Nudity (High): While there is no nudity in the film, there are numerous suggestive comments and other forms of innuendo. Many of these jokes might go over kids' heads.  In the beginning of the movie, Peter realizes that he had forgotten about a girl (obviously one he had relations with but that is never stated or shown) who was sleeping on his ship. He talks about many females he has had relationships with. He and Gamora get a little intimate in one scene. Other crude jokes are made. For example, when they enter a prison an inmate says "Check out the new meat!" and threatens to slather Peter up and go to town. It is also suggested that Gamora use the fact that she is attractive to trade with other inmates.

Drugs and Alcohol (Medium): Characters drink in a rowdy bar type place.

Language (High): One partial use of the “f” word, several “s” words, one “b” word, a couple “a” words and some general crude phrases or rude phrases like "turd blossoms."

Disrespectful/ Imitable Behavior (Extreme): This movie is replete with disrespectful behavior throughout. An opening scene shows Peter kicking small, ferocious looking creatures on a distant planet. He grabs one of them and uses it as a microphone. He and other characters have generally crass attitudes. Peter flips off the authorities. Kids may want to imitate Peter's actions or repeat various colorful phrases from the movie. They may also try to act out some of the violent or action scenes or imitate the foreboding demeanors of the bad guys in the film. Rocket loves to make jokes about taking various prosthetic devices from people, like their leg or electronic eye.

Sad/ Unsettling Scenes (High): Peter watches as his sick mother dies in a hospital. He runs out of the hospital distraught with grief. Some of the characters have sad back stories. One main character seems to have died.

Movie Topics Kids Might Have Questions About: Marval comic books, space travel, aliens, death of a parent, cannibalism, the marvel universe