When the first batch of Groot’s animated shorts sprouted up on Disney+, I wondered if there was still a place for the mischievous sapling in a world that had already gone daffy for Grogu (or The Artist Formally Known As Baby Yoda). Thankfully the bunch of three minute skits, masterminded by Kirsten Lepore were funny and warm enough to prove to be a sweet little diversion from the thundering, nearly three hour epics the movies were putting on.
However, a year later and the question still stands: just how relevant is Baby Groot now? After all, not only has it been quite a while since this version of the character first showed up (2017 no less), but the recent, third episode of the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie plainly shows that the main thrust of the MCU has long since moved on from the the troublesome little twig as it now portrays him as a strapping oak of a being. Can this animated series remind us how much we used to adore the diminutive, little acorn?
In the first episode, Are You My Groot?, we find our most covered hero stumbling across a hatching egg that shows Groot that there’s a little more to raising a child than just shoving candy into its face and admiring how cute its blank expression is. After all, there’s all the multicolored poop to negotiate.
Next up is Groot Noses Around, which sees our titular toddler living a slob-like existence as he sits around all day playing video games. But when the batteries of his controller run out, his search for replacements turns up something entirely unexpected, a prosthetic nose that allows Groot to actually smell his surroundings – however, his nasal odyssey soon has to make him face up to his rather unhygienic lifestyle.
In Groot’s Snow Day, the childish tree is ecstatic when the Guadians visit a snow planet, but after throwing snow balls and making snow angels, Groot sets about making a snowman. However, thanks to his use of various ship parts, his snow takes on a Terminator-style personality that our hero has to deal with.
In the next tale, Groot’s Sweet Treat, the arrival of a truly epic, intergalactic ice cream van has Groot scrabbling throughout his craft in order to rustle up enough enough change to buy himself a treat. However, as always, his mounting frustration leads him to take extreme methods when he proves to be just a little bit too late.
Finally, in Groot And The Great Prophecy, we are reintroduced to the cosmic being known as The Watcher as he narrates the tale of Groot fulfilling an ancient destiny by negotiating a trap-filled temple in order to obtain a mystic seed that’s said to bring about world peace. Shame that Groot has virtually no attention span, eh?
Much like the first batch of mini-adventures that featured the Guardians’ monosyllabic mascot, I Am Groot Season 2 is yet another bite-sized serving of sweetness that is as endearing and funny as it is throwaway and nonsensical. Simply put, it’s more of the same, with Groot finding his way into quick bursts of adventure that barely take up four minutes a piece, but also like the first season, Kirsten Lepore has a great aptitude for what makes the energetic little tree tick. Digging even further into the short attention span toddlers have that often makes them borderline psychotic, Lepore presents a string of gags that lean into the shocking lack of responsibility a sentient plant has when it’s rocketing about the galaxy.
The majority of the installments all have single sentence scenarios that continue to be ridiculously high concept (Groot obtains the ability to smell, for example or need funds to but a Celestial-shaped ice cream), but Lepore manages to layer each blink-and-you’ll-miss-them episode with killer visual gags and fantastic little details that truly warrant a second watch – watch as Groot struggles to get out of his game playing chair thanks to fact that he’s actually laid down roots due to his sedimentary habits, or his various, different reactions to the new smells he savours with his new proboscis.
However – and I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud – but as sweet as it all is watching Groot adopt a bird with a blank expression that rivals even his own or commit probable manslaughter in his attempts to score an ice cream, none of it feels anything less than a mild diversion and barely reaches “must-watch” status… that is until the final episode.
Finally taking a dive into MCU lore other than the odd Xandarian fighter or a one sentence, off-screen cameo from Bradley Cooper’s Rocket, the episode Groot And The Great Prophecy reintroduces Jeffery Wright’s rumbling tones as he once again voices Uatu The Watcher after his memorable stint hosting fellow animated show, What If…. The episode itself is fairly standard as Groot cluelessly navigates a booby-trap laden temple with all the care and tact of a runaway Roomba as spears and blades whizz centimetres from his clueless head, but Wright’s ever more panicked narration pushes the episode into the stratosphere as Uatu squeamish nature is only stirred up by Groot’s terminal disinterest. Wright is obviously greatly enamoured of this role and his appearance here only make you long for his introduction in the live action areas of the MCU sooner rather than later.
Colourful, funny and warm, I Am Groot still struggles to remain in the brain the second the next episode has scrolled up, but with such loving, textured animation such as this, it’s tough to complain. However, you can’t help but wonder if that maybe planting more cosmic cameos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large might make these fun-size romps linger longer than just a meager four minutes. At any rate, watch, enjoy, forget and root for more cameos.
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