I Am Groot
I Am Groot | |
---|---|
Genre |
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Created by | Kirsten Lepore |
Based on | Marvel Comics |
Written by | Kirsten Lepore |
Directed by | Kirsten Lepore |
Starring | |
Composer | Daniele Luppi |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 10 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
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Editor | Dan Urrutia |
Running time | 4–6 minutes |
Production company | Marvel Studios Animation |
Original release | |
Network | Disney+ |
Release | August 10, 2022 present | –
Related | |
Marvel Cinematic Universe television series |
I Am Groot is an American series of animated shorts created by
Vin Diesel reprises his role as the voice of Baby Groot from the MCU films. Bradley Cooper also stars, with Jeffrey Wright starring in the second season. I Am Groot was announced in December 2020, and Luma Pictures began work on the series' photorealistic animation by August 2021. The involvement of Lepore was revealed that November.
I Am Groot premiered its first season with five shorts on Disney+ on August 10, 2022, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. A second season, also with five shorts, was released on September 6, 2023, as part of Phase Five.
Premise
Each short follows
Cast and characters
- Brad Winderbaum called Baby Groot "imperfect" who "doesn't always make the right choices, but learns from his mistakes", adding it was "fun to watch him fail, and it's even more fun to watch him succeed".[5]: 1
- Bradley Cooper as Rocket:
A member of the Guardians who is a genetically modified raccoon bounty hunter and a master of weapons and military tactics.[6] Director Kirsten Lepore described Rocket as "bit of a scolding parent" towards Groot, but still his friend "with a soft heart", with Winderbaum stating that Rocket feels responsible for Groot as "an unlikely parent".[5]: 7 - Watcher race who observes the multiverse. Wright reprises his role from the animated series What If...?.[7]
Additionally, James Gunn voices a wrist watch and Trevor Devall voices Iwua, a shapeshifting alien who mimics Groot, in the first season.[8]
Episodes
Season 1 (2022)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Groot's First Steps" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | August 10, 2022 | |
While growing in a pot, Baby Groot is tended by robots. When a crack appears on his pot, the robots replace Groot with a bonsai plant. Out of jealousy, Groot attacks the plant and they both fall onto the floor, resulting in their pots breaking and Groot taking his first steps. | ||||||
2 | 2 | "The Little Guy" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | August 10, 2022 | |
Baby Groot finds tiny blue Grunds under a rock and plays with them, only for the Grunds to see this as an attack and launch a counterattack. A frightened Groot farts a leaf, which the Grunds find as their food source. Groot finds a nearby bush to give the Grunds additional food, only to accidentally step on them upon returning. | ||||||
3 | 3 | "Groot's Pursuit" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | August 10, 2022 | |
Waking up in the middle of the night in the Eclector 's Quadrant, Baby Groot finds a broken vial and traces the bubble-colored liquid from it around the ship. This is revealed to be Iwua, a shape-shifting alien who impersonates him. The pair dance, with the alien teaching him dance steps, until Groot ejects Iwua out of the ship via the airlock. | ||||||
4 | 4 | "Groot Takes a Bath" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | August 10, 2022 | |
Baby Groot finds a pool of mud and takes a bath. He soon finds leaves growing out of him, due to the mud, and grooms them in different styles which results in a nearby Gangalorian squirrel bird becoming irritated. Groot eventually uses all of the pool's mud and can no longer grow the leaves. As the squirrel bird laughs at him, Groot trims its hair to use as a scarf. | ||||||
5 | 5 | "Magnum Opus" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | August 10, 2022 | |
Baby Groot gathers various items inside the ship to draw the Guardians of the Galaxy, including causing an explosion to create glitter. Rocket finds Groot trying to fix a hole caused by the explosion. Groot gives the drawing to Rocket, who is almost sucked out of the ship before Groot saves him. |
Season 2 (2023)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 1 | "Are You My Groot?" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | September 6, 2023 | |
On an alien planet, Baby Groot finds a strange egg in a nest. He adopts and makes it as his own child, but is annoyed by its constant pooping nature. When its siblings run over Groot for their mother, she comes to carry them away, while Groot looks at them emotionally. | ||||||
7 | 2 | "Groot Noses Around" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | September 6, 2023 | |
While searching for batteries for his video game controller, Baby Groot gains the sense of smell after getting a prosthetic nose attached to his face. But, after recognizing his place's odor, he decides to detach his face from the nose shortly after retrieving the batteries. | ||||||
8 | 3 | "Groot's Snow Day" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | September 6, 2023 | |
After arriving on a snowy planet, Baby Groot plays in the snow and decides to build a robot snowman, only for it to suddenly go rogue, threatening him and the ship. He only manages to defeat it by exploiting how the head comprised an engine part that would ignite after a concussive hit, provided by a well-placed snowball throw. Despite its destruction, however, life remains in one of its remnant eyes. | ||||||
9 | 4 | "Groot's Sweet Treat" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | September 6, 2023 | |
Baby Groot sees an ice cream truck–esque spaceship floating outside the ship. Wanting to eat some ice cream, Baby Groot searches for money through the ship, ultimately finding some after breaking a claw machine, only to discover the ship has already left. Desperate, Baby Groot chases after the spaceship in a capsule, resulting in a crash that destroys both vehicles as Baby Groot eats the remaining ice cream surrounded by Nova Corps patrol ships. | ||||||
10 | 5 | "Groot and the Great Prophecy" | Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore | September 6, 2023 | |
The Watcher narrates as Baby Groot wanders through the temple of a sacred seed. But, he accidentally loses the seed to burning lava and then the temple collapses. Amongst the debris, Baby Groot emerges with leaves grown and the Watcher understands (metaphorically) that Groot is the seed rising from the ground. |
Production
Development
In December 2020,
I Am Groot is produced by
Writing
Lepore drew inspiration from her son, and said the series uses science fiction elements to explore Groot's regular childhood moments.
For the first short, "Groot's First Steps", Lepore wanted to explore Groot growing out of his pot, and was able to incorporate that with another idea of Groot, a sentient tree, going up against a non-sentient tree, which allowed her to explore Keaton physical comedy "in which the inanimate object always wins". "Groot's Pursuit" was conceived thinking about how children can mimic one another, resulting in one getting frustrated by it.[5]: 6 Lepore was also interested in exploring Groot's physical abilities, which led to the short "Groot Takes a Bath". She described Groot as becoming a Chia Pet, which resulted in "a very fun arena to play in".[5]: 7
For the second season, Lepore described the shorts as showing Groot "beginning to grow up", with the shorts having him learn about parenthood, the importance of cleanliness and hygiene, "how not to pilot a ship", and starting on "his path to becoming a hero".
Gunn said the series was not necessarily connected to his Guardians of the Galaxy films,
Casting
Design
Baby Groot is the same model designed by
Animation and editing
Visual effects and animation for the series were created by Luma Pictures,[10][33] which was joined by Trixter for the second season short "Groot's Snow Day".[20][34][additional citation(s) needed] Work on the series' photorealistic animation style began by August 2021.[35] Winderbaum explained that Marvel Studios wanted I Am Groot to feel "directly rooted in the language of the films", which is why they chose visual effects company Luma Pictures to animate the series since they previously designed and worked on Baby Groot for Vol. 2. Winderbaum highlighted how Lepore's experience working with stop motion animation translated to her directing computer-generated animation.[36]: 6:31–7:13, 7:43–7:48 When talking to Lepore, Gunn compared Baby Groot's poses and facial expressions to emojis due the character's face just having eyes and a mouth.[21]
Initial conceptions of the episodes in the storyboard and animatic stages resulted in the shorts being about five minutes long. Lepore was aiming for each short to be approximately three minutes in length, and made refinements and "edited very carefully" to get them to that runtime.[5]: 3
Music
Lepore wanted to feature music from the 1960s and 1970s, and looked at music from around the world instead of just the United States, to differentiate it from the music featured in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Licensed songs in the series include "In the Hall of the Mountain Queen" by Raymond Scott in "Groot's First Steps", which Lepore noted instantly gives the short a "really weird flavor, this spacey, early electro feel", "Ran Kan Kan" by Tito Puente in "Groot's Pursuit", and "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff in "Magnum Opus".[5]: 5
In the second season, "Groot's Sweet Treat" includes "
Marketing
Brief footage from the series was shown during Disney's
The short "Magnum Opus" debuted at the El Capitan Theatre, appearing before select screenings of the MCU film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), from July 18 to 24.[41] The short "Groot Takes a Bath" was shown during Marvel Studios' animation panel at San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, where Lepore discussed the series and a trailer for all of the shorts was also released.[16][6] Posters for each short were released ahead of their premiere.[42]
A trailer for the second season was released on August 6, 2023, in honor of National Tree Day. Kieran Fisher from
Release
I Am Groot premiered with five shorts on
Reception
Audience viewership
I Am Groot was the third highest streaming series for viewers in the United States for the week ending August 14, 2022, according to Whip Media's TV Time.[48]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 87% approval rating, with an average score of 7.70/10, based on 15 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "He is Groot, and that novelty alone ought to give MCU fans a rooting interest in this slight but fun series of hijinks."[49]
Matt Fowler of
Reviewing the second season, Luke Y. Thompson at
Accolades
The series won for Outstanding Short Form Program and Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing for an Animated Program at the 2nd Children's and Family Emmy Awards.[54] It is nominated for Best Visual Effects or Animation for it 2nd season at the 13th AACTA Awards.[55] The short "Groot's Snow Day" is nominated for Outstanding Achievement for Editorial in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production at the 51st Annie Awards.[56]
References
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External links
- Official website Marvel.com
- I Am Groot at IMDb
- I Am Groot on Disney+
- I Am Groot playlist on YouTube