“I am Groot.” For the most part, that’s all the MCU character really says, although he did deliver an emotional “I love you, guys” in the final act of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.  Yet, his limited vocabulary hasn’t held him back from becoming one of Marvel’s most beloved on-screen characters. There is something so incredibly endearing and soft about Groot, and for a character comprised primarily of bulking branches and limbs, that’s an incredible accomplishment and a testament to the power of his design and the skill of his animators.

While we’ve seen him go through a variety of evolutions and stages, Anthony Francisco is the man behind what is likely the fan-favorite iteration of the Guardian. We got our first glimpse of “Baby Groot” in the post-credit sequence of the original Guardians of the Galaxy film back in 2014. We saw more of the dancing sapling in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and he eventually got his own series of mini-adventures with I Am Groot on Disney+. He returns in season 2, and the result is cuteness overload in the best possible way.

I Am Groot (S2) Critique

Also Read: James Gunn Signals Groot Will Stop Saying “I am Groot”, May Expand His Vocabulary in Future MCU Projects

I’ll begin by admitting that I haven’t seen the first season. I didn’t avoid it by choice, it just got lost in the endless stream of need-to-watch content that goes unviewed year-after-year. I still haven’t gotten around to The Bear and don’t even get me started on The Sopranos. However, I did assign season 1 to another FandomWire critic who called the series a “rare miss” and gave it a scathing score of three out of ten. If the first season had half the charm of the second, then I’d reason that critic must have a heart of stone (love you, man).

The new season once again consists of five animated shorts, each averaging around four-minutes or less. Kristen Lepore returns as writer and director, continuing a streak that includes working as a visual effects artist on Everything Everywhere All At Once and the animation director for Marcel The Shell With Shoes On. Unlike Everything Everywhere All At Once, which was a massive undertaking of colliding genres and concepts, I Am Groot excels through its simplicity.

Minus a select few voice cameos and the occasional utterance of his three-word catchphrase, this is primarily a series void of dialogue or speech. It’s reliant on its own visual splendor and the magnetic on-screen presence of its adorable lead to maintain a captivating experience, short as it may be. It’s reminiscent of early Pixar shorts that used to precede each of their features, or the old Chip and Dale mini-adventures that pitted the squeaky duo against the hot-tempered Donald Duck. They don’t over-think their purpose, making great use of the few minutes they have to make their audience smile and yearn for more.

In Conclusion

Watch The Trailer Here: I Am Groot Season 2 Trailer

The animation is beautiful, the episodes are fun and, most important of all, Baby Groot is unflinchingly cute. This is the content Disney+ should be putting out when it comes to the MCU. It’s current over-reliance on the mainstream continuity, rather than stand-alone adventures, is a major contributing factor in the ever-present “Superhero Fatigue” that’s plaquing cinemas. Werewolf By Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special only strengthen and bolster my argument. Please, just give me I Am Groot Season 3 (perhaps another Werewolf By Night, while we’re at it) and call it a day.

9/10

Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.