Am I seriously gonna review this?
Well yes. That wasn’t the original plan but then I saw some pretentious jerk on Twitter say it was awful and a sad attempt at salvaging public opinion for the sequel trilogy, etc. And I said to myself, what in the hell is wrong with these people? For real you’re doing a full on critic style review, complete with what has to be an unbearable YouTube video rant, about an animated special with Lego versions of the characters? A silly tongue in cheek holiday special that’s on Disney plus, and you’re going to treat it like it’s an entry at the Sundance Film Festival…..ok, pretentious dude, whatever. So yeah that got me to watch it, and to give some thoughts.
Now let’s be clear. I am not doing a stuffy, movie critic style review of this. I watched it and I have a few thoughts but that’s it. It ain’t that serious, ok? It’s a Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. It’s for kids primarily, but it’s also supposed to be fun nostalgia for their parents and other adults who grew up with the original and/or prequel trilogies. It’s not meant for 35 (and older) year old sadsack losers to pore through like War and Peace, ok?
So let’s get to it, shall we?
The special is a big callback/redo of the original Star Wars Christmas special which aired way back in the late 70s and was apparently so bad it never aired again. George Lucas was so ashamed that he stuck it in the vault, forever. Like that one, this one takes on Life Day, the special Christmas-esque Wookie holiday where everyone gathers gives gifts, etc. We see all the gang from The Rise of Skywalker to open things up – Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Lando, R2, 3P0, BB8, and of course Chewbacca.
Rey is trying to train Finn how to use the Force (as we were told after the last movie, Finn was indeed Force sensitive), and is not succeeding. Frustrated, she goes off to study the Jedi texts and finds a crystal that enables her to travel to all different times and places in the Star Wars saga, which she uses to try and learn what she needs in order to be a better teacher. And as you would expect all kinds of time travel related hijinks ensue before everything gets wrapped in a neat Life Day bow.
Along the way Rey meets multiple versions of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Darth Vader along with Anakin, Emperor Palpatine, and her old nemesis Kylo Ren. 
Han, meet Han
The various meetings at different points of the Skywalker saga allow Rey to learn the all important lessons but also give Palpatine a chance to try and change the timeline so he wins. We get lots of wacky fun scenes including Rey fighting Vader, yay!
This is a Lego thing so nothing too heavy goes down but there a nice little story that goes on before we get to the end when everything has been set right. Seeing Rey exchange clever banter with the Lukes is fun as are the in jokes towards different events of the series. We even get a brief drop in to the world of The Mandalorian as is required just so we can see the Child. And like that series the special does not overstay its welcome. Running 44 minutes it’s perfect to watch with kids or by yourself.
My overall verdict is 4 out of 6 for quality (good) and 4 out of 4 for enjoyment for a total score of 8. Could they have added 15 minutes and made it meatier for us adults? Sure. The humor wasn’t Pixar movie level clever but elicited a few laughs from me along the way. But you know what, that’s fine because they didn’t make it specifically for me. Seriously, it’s ok! I’ll even watch it again, that’s how much I liked it.
Which brings me to my last point…..
Memo to anyone above the age of 30: either find your inner child with this stuff or go away. Star Wars has always had simple plot lines and themes. Like Lucas said it’s a morality play for kids. If you’re adult brain is so wired for Game of Thrones to the point where you’re gonna complain about this non stop, then go away. If you’re so pressed that they tell the story you wrote in your head, go away. If you’re so wed to your pre-written takes about how bad Disney has ruined it now, even as you praise Mando and Rogue One, go away and take your crappy YouTube videos with you.
Ok, rant over. The special is good fun and I highly recommend it. Until next time.
Stroke of Genius 