The Touching Way Groot From 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Changed a Disabled Boy's Life

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Marvel Studios

We truly are all Groot.

As if we needed another reason to love Guardians of the Galaxy’s tree of few words (those few words voiced by Vin Diesel), director James Gunn recently reposted a message he got on Facebook about how Groot changed a disabled boy’s life.

I love making movies because of stories like this. Thank you.

Posted by James Gunn on Wednesday, August 19, 2015


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Josh Dunlap
of Las Vegas explaind that his 4-year-old son, Sawyer, has a condition known as dyspraxia, which, he explains, “not only interferes with motor skills but speech as well.”

The whole message reads:

"When Guardians came out Sawyer could only say about three words and would communicate to his mother and I by other means. When he saw Groot, something clicked inside him and he connected with him on a level I haven't seen. He began to mimic him and he would use the word "Bah" for a lot, but after he saw the film, he would change the tone in which he said it to convey a different meaning. He would also start saying Groot for many things as well. Since that, he was finally able to go to a speech class and it has helped amazingly. I just wanted to thank you though, for a script and movie that was written so well that a four year old, three at that time, could connect with someone who had the same language barrier."

Gunn added in a follow-up comment, “I have many friends who get a lot of negative messages online. I'm very grateful for the huge, vast majority of positive and kind people who follow me here...I get to hear stories like this, and then read all the amazing comments [below]. Truly wonderful.”


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If that isn’t sweet enough, another mom, Shannon Culler, chimed in with her own story, about how her autistic 2-year-old son connected with the movie. “I never imagined him shouting from the backseat of our car to please play the soundtrack again and listening to him singing along to [“O-O-H Child”],” Culler wrote. “You are magical James Gunn!”

Basically:

Plus, Gunn told ET the soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is even better than the first!

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