I am still working through the entire run of MCU movies to date with my kids and, as necessary, filling in the gaps in our series of reviews as we go. Today, we turned our attention to Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the midpoint of the excellent ensemble trilogy.

It begins in the 1970s with a brief introduction to Peter Quill's parents, a Missouri girl named Meredith (Laura Haddock) and a spaceman (Kurt Russell). Then we jump forward 34 years to the planet of the golden people, where Quill (Chris Pratt) and his team of Guardians are fighting a toothy interdimensional beast as baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) dances to ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky," in what turns into quite the entertaining melange of music and mayhem.

After some stolen batteries, a few inept eyewinks and what is basically a video game space dogfight, Peter's ship, the Milano crashes on an inhospitable forest world, where they meet Ego (Russell), who reveals himself as Peter's long-lost celestial father. Quill, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista) accompany Ego and his empathic associate Mantis (Pom Klementieff) to his private moon, a living manifestation of his will, while Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Groot and their captive Nebula (Karen Gillan) remain behind to fix the ship ... until Yondu (Michael Rooker) and his Ravagers show up and, after an entertaining fight, take them captive.

Unfortunately for Yondu, his crew mutinies under the auspices of the vile Taserface (Chris Sullivan). Yondu's loyal crewmen are quickly dispatched, leaving only the conflicted Kraglin (Sean Gunn) on his side.

Back on Ego's world, the father-son reunion is marred by the revelation that Ego wants to destroy the universe and remake it in his image. That puts a damper on things, so far as Quill is concerned. Things get messy, particularly when a fleet of angry golden people show up to wreak revenge.

As always, the soundtrack is an exceptional mix of '70s hits. Fun!

Among all of the battles and special effects, there's a pretty deep message about the value of friendship, family and, perhaps most poignantly, fatherhood. Yeah, I have watched this movie a few times now, and there's a scene at the end that will always bring tears to my eyes, especially in the last year or so.

Guardians of the Galaxy made the world love a misfit team that no one really wanted in a movie -- until they saw it. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is, by my reckoning, even better.