Is our Groot learning?
What They Say:
The mischievous toddler Baby Groot learns how to grow up amongst the trouble in the stars along with the help of his friends and family in the ragtag superhero team the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Most comic fans can still remember the view of “How does Marvel sell a talking tree and a raccoon to an audience that was still grappling with a character like Thor and preferred Iron Man?” Things have changed over time to be sure when it comes to this and Groot has an enduring popularity both in his mature form as we saw in the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie as well as the Baby Groot that we got with the second film, which led into teenage Groot. That definitely delivered its fun in the films with the humor but also gave Groot a chance to participate, albeit lightly compared to others, in Endgame. Groot getting his own series would be a tough sell but a series of shorts is a lot easier to work with. And I’m glad Marvel didn’t go for some out-of-continuity type cheap animation cartoon in 80s style or something in order to play with expectations.
The first five episodes of this project are ones that could easily be a little side diversion in any Guardians film at this point if they ever told the tales between the two properties. Bringing back Vin Diesel was a nice touch and getting Bradley Cooper to step in for a few lines is welcome continuity as well that keeps it from feeling like a cheap grab. Even more is that because of the design of the show it doesn’t feel like it’s far off from being a part of a film itself outside of the second episode. Most of it takes place on board the ship and the CG version of those sets comes across really well here so that it’s a good blend. And with a number of small moments in the two films that already made this place feel very lived-in for many, a small expansion helps a lot.
And honestly, this show feels like it does a good job of understanding the short-form style that I get to see a lot of in the anime side. The stories are self-contained but show the overall growth and evolution of Baby Groot to where we see him at the start of the second film with his whole little dance sequence. Starting off with him in the jar is a smart choice here and exploring his struggle as the ship’s automated systems care more for a bonsai tree is adorable as he seeks to get revenge. Baby Groot has a real chip on its shoulder and really hits back. I’d almost say they’re the Chopper of the MCU. It’s fun to see the small moments of caring mixed as well, which we see in the second installment as they deal with a small alien species and try to do good by them but we also see how, upon believing that they killed them all, they just try to cover it up and go on their way.
Groot gets to deal with a few things along the way that are both fun and problematic, from dealing with a liquid alien-type thing that shape-shifts and almost gives us a Symbiote-like creature here that ends with a dance-off (and more Chopper-ness). But there’s also the joy in seeing Groot later taking a mud bath on some world that they’re on which at first makes him a Chia Groot before realizing the way they can come up with creative looks that delights them. But the best one for me is the final one where they’re working on a project with lots of loose items that they’ve collected, much like Rocket does, and it leads to some real chaos on the ship and almost throws Rocket out of it. It’s silly but totally Groot and shows that series writer/director Kristen Lepore really understands the nature of this character as James Gunn brought to life in the films.
In Summary:
I really enjoyed this overall and honestly, the only thing that notched it down a touch are some app-based issues from Disney+. The lack of a play-all feature or for it to auto-load the next installment, or actually consider them number episodes, means five individual selection points instead of just letting the fun run through. That’s not great and it is a small issue overall but it just slowed things down in a way that the experience shouldn’t be. It’s definitely a cute and very fun show that’s easy to get into and enjoy and I’m excited that they’re making more, even if it’ll take a while. The quality is definitely there in just about every frame and that makes it worth the wait. It’s definitely a small-doses kind of thing and the short-form concept is perfect for it. We’ll easily be back for more.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Disney+
