I’ve always found it fairly easy to ascribe to the notion of sentient plant life. I swear that the weeds are implementing a master plan to take over my lawn and garden, and mock me when I seek to eradicate them. “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can imagine!,” cry their tiny voices in my ears, echoing old Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. If you would look for examples of intelligent plant life in movies or on the small screen, consider the carnivorous alien Audrey II plant from Little Shop of Horrors, the Triffids, the Jolly Green Giant, and a host of others. We just haven’t had a good sentient plant around recently.
Fortunately, we have the character of Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy coming to our rescue! Yeah, I know he’s essentially a sentient tree, but he does appear with a raccoon, so he merits mention here. Furthermore, Groot is voiced by none less than Vin Diesel, so you know that this is a plant to be reckoned with! While Groot is integral to the action of Guardians, he isn’t much of a talker, saying only one three-word line in the entire movie (“I am Groot!“). Still, Vin Diesel voiced that line in several languages for movie outtakes, and even wore stilts coming in to the recording studio so as to better assume more of the character’s stature…and you thought that method acting was dead!
I’ve always liked the actor as an action hero, although some might say that his performance here is a bit…wooden, ahahahaha!
FOXSYLVANIA 