I think it’s very lazy when sequels try to retcon things established in the previous film in such a blatant way that was clearly never intended. You’ll never convince me in the first film Yondu was a loving father figure to StarLord growing up as he seemed to view him as expendable and was even going to kill him in that film at one point. Yet in this sequel, he apparently always deep down cared for him. That’s a problem when the whole emotional crux of the ending is dependent upon that. They even pull a “Winter Soldier” and have to create new flashbacks to trick audiences into thinking maybe Yondu was actually a cool dad!
Yeah, whatever.
Remember when Drax had nothing to do in this and just repeated the same unfunny joke over and over?

It’s better shot than the first and better color graded. Kurt Russell way more memorable than bland bad guy from the first. And I like that the stakes feel more personal in this. But it’s just very uneven. I never loved the first so I didn’t find this one to be a huge disappointment but it is rather generic overall.