Character development is one of the pillars of storytelling. It’s hard to suck audiences in and get them interested in the story when the characters they are watching remain stagnant. There are exceptions, but it is absolutely a great rule of thumb to have characters end up in a different place at the end of a film than at the beginning. This becomes more difficult during ensemble stories when characters have to share the spotlight with others. With so many characters on the screen, development can become muddled and fade into the background. But the Guardians Of The Galaxy films circumvent this in a great way with Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel).
In the comics, Groot has a very particular and standard look — the one used in the first Guardians movie. However, Groot sacrifices most of himself in the film, reverting back to a baby form. Although he is still Groot, he is also a completely different character. He’s more childlike and innocent. He has to regrow himself, thus going through the various stages of childhood development in the process. In the more recent Avengers films, he grows to what appears to be a teenage stage, which is followed up by a young adult stage in the third Guardians film.
This character development for Groot is especially interesting because he doesn’t just go through an inner character development; he also goes through an external development as well. As Groot grows he becomes more mature and cares more about his friends and family than he did before. A good example of this is when he finally puts down the video game to help Thor (Chris Hemsworth) recover after making Stormbreaker. For casual fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, seeing Groot grow up might be a cool detail to watch. But it is also an important symbolic growth for what he goes through as a character.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy films are now streaming on Disney+.
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