IT'S 1988 and nine-year-old Peter Quill is waiting in a hospital corridor, sporting one black eye (a sign of things to come) and with tears welling up in both.

He's listening to 10cc's I'm Not In Love on his Sony Walkman, just as he's taken to the bedside of his dying mother. A few minutes later, he runs into the grounds to vent his grief, when his day gets even worse - and he is abducted by aliens.

This opening sequence to Marvel's latest blockbuster typifies the film as a whole, which combines drama, character, comedy and sci-fi action with extremely engaging dexterity.

The Iron Man films do this to some extent, as do the Thors and Avengers. But there's something about Guardians that sets it apart, casting one back to a time when Earthbound superheroes didn't rule sci-fi, but misfits and rebels in galaxies far, far away.

In other words, it is a happy, shameless riff on Star Wars, capturing the qualities that made George Lucas's original trilogy so much fun.

Twenty-six years after he left Earth, the adult Peter (Chris Pratt) has become an outlaw, working with the "ravagers" who abducted him. A good-looking spaceship and a bag full of sophisticated weapons and toys make him a useful fighter. That said, his daft moniker (Star Lord), his enduring affection for the Awesome Mix #1 that his mother gave him, and a stream of quips prevent both us and his adversaries from taking him too seriously, which is exactly the point.

When Peter locates an orb on a deserted planet for a mystery buyer, he finds the object is much in demand, not least by a powerful villain with a grudge against the universe.

There's a touch of The Usual Suspects in the way that Peter meets and joins up with his eponymous partners in crime, all of whom have eyes on the orb, for different reasons: Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a green-skinned, purple-haired assassin; Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a cybernetic-enhanced raccoon with attitude; the latter's trusty, tree-like heavy, Groot, whose single, all-purpose sentence throughout the film, "I am Groot", is nicely growled by Vin Diesel; and man-mountain Drax the Destroyer (former wrestler Dave Bautista).

Escaping together from a high-security prison, they make an uneasy alliance. But, somehow, a group that includes a furry animal, a tree and a muscle-bound dunderhead proves remarkably effective.

It's easy to see Peter as the Han Solo of the band (with the relatively unknown Pratt fitting the bill admirably) and Groot as Chewbacca.

The ships echo those of Star Wars and the film is populated with the sort of oddball aliens that George Lucas turned into millions of dollars of merchandising.

Yet the derivative nature doesn't detract from proceedings at all. The story is underpinned by such sturdy themes as loss, revenge and redemption, there's palpable chemistry amongst the mismatched heroes, and the production and costume design are top notch. The Awesome Mix offers a cracking soundtrack.

There is a little too much plot, which sometimes marginalizes the cameo actors (Benicio del Toro is particularly wasted). In contrast to the Hollywood old hand, it's good to see Karen Gillan make a strong impression as Gamora's kickass evil sister. Rather than post-Dr Who sci-fi typecasting, this is a great move for the Inverness actress.

You've got to like a film which has one of its stars (Saldana) yawn conspicuously during the slo-mo group bonding sequence and bemoan that "I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy".

A sequel has been announced.