Julien Neaves, Editor
While scrolling through Disney+ I saw they had dropped five I Am Groot shorts, which follows the titular sentient tree-like creature between the events of Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 mid-credits scenes. I am a fan of the character but, unlike the recent Disney+ shows Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it didn’t feel like required viewing. But I had some time to kill so I thought I would give the shorts a watch. And I’m glad I did, because they are pretty darn entertaining.
You may have read recently that some visual effects workers had complained about the overbearing workload, which led some fans to ascribe this to decline in the quality of some of the recent CGI and VFX work. But there is no decline on display here as the CGI and VFX work are top notch. The detail on Groot is rich and gorgeous and the the environments are other creatures bursting with life and vibrancy. This would be my top reason for recommending the shorts.
My second reason is that the show is freakin’ hilarious. Groot, once again voiced by Vin Diesel, is his usual adorable, curious and wacky self. The shorts are each just a few minutes and the scenarios, which range from Groot fighting with a bonsai plant, discovering a tiny alien civilization and taking a bath, are not going to have major ripples on the MCU as we know it. But they are cute and very funny, and the last of the shorts even includes the appearance of another beloved character (no spoilers). If I had to rank the five (and why not?) they would be in ascending order: Groot’s First Steps, Groot Takes a Bath, Groot’s Pursuit, Magnum Opus, and The Little Guy.
So if (like me) you didn’t bother to watch the I Am Groot shorts I will recommend checking them out for the fantastic visuals and silly comedy. There are five more shorts planned and I will definitely be checking them out. What’s left to say but, “I am Groot.”
Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.
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