Revisiting I Am Groot

After a long hiatus, I’ve finally decided to continue my “Revisiting” series, especially with “Avengers: Doomsday” right around the corner. Last time I wrote in this series, we revisited “Thor: Love and Thunder,” and next in order on Disney+’s list is the beloved collection of shorts known as “I Am Groot.” In these shorts, Groot is still a baby who goes on a series of misadventures between the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies. From beating up other plants to a dance-off with a sludge monster, to building a monster snowman, and even to encountering The Watcher himself, Baby Groot does it all. Overall, it’s not a very serious show (and it matters little to the Multiverse Saga’s narrative), but it’s still a fun, light-hearted watch we all love.

The Pros and Cons

Unlike my previous pieces in this series, I’m going to do things a little differently this time. Since these shorts are—obviously—short and not very deep or extensive, I can’t fully divide my thoughts or separate the show’s core parts into three pros and cons. So I’m going to keep it as one cohesive section to pour my opinions into.

That said, let’s begin with the pros of this series. First, Groot is one of my favorite Marvel characters of all time, so any show that includes him is an automatic win in my book. But what makes these shorts truly special is that we get to see what Groot was like before “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” In that movie, we see him as a goofy yet feisty baby who will pick fights with almost anything, yet feel vulnerable in certain moments (like saying goodbye to Gamora or falling asleep on Quill). But in these shorts, we watch him literally grow out of the pot he was kept in after the first movie, and his personality continues to develop with each adventure. For instance, in the short where he finds an egg and adopts a baby alien bird that hatches, we see him love and care for the creature at first, get sick of it and try to run away, but realize he still loves it when the baby finds its real mom. Besides going through every stage of parenthood in five minutes, I love how shorts like this show his selfish, childlike nature while also staying true to OG Groot’s core personality of love and kindness. The second thing I love most about this show is its humor, as every misadventure made me smile and laugh the whole time. Whether it’s doing something innocent and childish or doing something completely unexpected, the comedic timing is impeccable. For instance, in the series finale, the Watcher tells us that Groot is about to fulfill a prophecy that will save the universe: traversing a deadly temple to save a rare seed that will guide the universe into a new age. However, the Watcher’s surprised and borderline frustrated commentary is hilarious as Groot does the opposite of literally everything that the Watcher expected: purposefully triggering deadly traps, defacing ancient and sacred monuments (including peeing on one), taking a nap while the seed is about to be burned, and even straight up ignoring the burning seed in favor of a ball he lost. Though the Watcher realizes Groot was the seed all along, it’s still very funny to watch Groot’s antics. But my favorite part of the series is when he put all his effort into making a family portrait. Not only do we get a cameo from Rocket Raccoon (and his hilariously priceless reactions to Groot’s antics), but it also makes a huge callback to the first movie, when the drawing strikingly resembles OG Groot wrapping his branches around the gang to protect them. And I’m always a sucker for soft family moments, and Groot showing his love for his family always tugs on the old heartstrings. 

However, I also have a few issues with these shorts. For instance, as previously mentioned, we get two surprise cameos at each season finale: Rocket Raccoon and the Watcher. This might be my disappointment with “What If” talking, but I didn’t like that we got the Watcher in these shorts. Again, I thought the Watcher’s commentary and reactions are hilarious, but it doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t make any sense for him to be here. I mean, the Watcher is the guardian of the multiverse who fought Infinity Ultron. Even in comics, he only appears when something significant (for better or worse) is about to happen. So why would he spend any time observing a prophecy he admitted to skimming over, only to watch Baby Groot do Baby Groot things? Also, this is a Guardians of the Galaxy show. If anything, Rocket or someone else on the team deserves another cameo. When I saw Rocket in the first finale, I got hit with nostalgia, and then felt my heartstrings being pulled when I saw him bond with Groot over the drawing. But even before Marvel ruined “What If,” I felt no such connection with the Watcher. So for me personally, the Watcher’s appearance felt more like a reminder that the aforementioned show exists. It doesn’t help that the only Guardians cameo we get in the second season is an off-screen voice line from Rocket, when Groot smacks his cup of hot cocoa off the table and presumably hits Rocket or something. Cameos aside, there is one other thing about these shorts that I have a small problem with: connectivity. In other words, I wish these shorts connected more with the two Guardians movies. After all, the very first short of this series was literally Groot as we saw him in that one post-credits scene dancing in his pot, until he finally grew out of it. And again, we see him make a drawing that looks like the moment when he turned himself into a living shield to protect his friends as Ronan’s ship crashed. I’m not saying there had to be some huge thing that needs to happen and make it essential for the Multiverse Saga. Instead, I’d like it if the second season smoothly transitioned into the second Guardians movie, like maybe we see a short or two that shows the early days of his teen years. Perhaps even seamlessly transitioning into that one post-credits scene where we see him playing video games in his messy room. At the very least, maybe showing the Guardians landing on the Sovereign’s planet to fight that giant squid-monster thing.

Conclusion

Even though the second season didn’t end the way I wanted it to, the shorts were so much fun to watch, and I desperately wish they’d make more. It doesn’t seem fair that they only spend a year to make like ten five-minute episodes for one of the MCU’s most popular characters, only to do absolutely nothing with them afterwards. With each wacky adventure, they’ve shown the potential for countless possibilities, but for some reason, Marvel thought two short seasons were enough. Regardless, they always bring a smile to my face and a laugh from my gut every time I watch them. While not necessary to watch for the Saga’s plot, I’d still highly recommend it.