Rey leaves her friends to prepare for Life Day as she sets off on an adventure to gain a deeper knowledge of the Force. At a mysterious temple, she is hurled into a cross-timeline adventure. Will she make it back in time for Life Day?
Pam says:
After countless hours of watching every single “Star Wars” movie ever made, I am almost inclined to say this one is the most entertaining one! Disney’s Lego artistry is of course incredible as characters embrace their swiveling hair and pincer grip hands, but it’s the writing that makes it stand out. Making fun of the concept of “Star Wars” and the characters’ personalities, writer David Shayne incorporates every character and confusing story line and brings it to life in this time travel saga.
In this holiday rendition narrated in classic syntactic style by Yoda, Rey is struggling with her inabilities to teach Finn how to be a Jedi so she ventures off to figure why. Accompanied by BB8, Rey discovers a time travel key which unlocks the past and she meets the greats of “Star Wars” past. Of course, there are a few glitches as Darth travels with her back to the future (no pun intended) and Rey must set things right and still get back in time for the big Life Day celebration.
Writer Shayne capitalizes on the “Star Wars” soap opera-like confusing genealogy of the characters, and crazy as it sounds, he creates a bit more background from the characters, especially the evil Supreme Leader. The conversations that take place between and among Darth and Kylo are laugh out loud funny. These strange little plastic figures truly come to life with voice overs delivering dialogue that is smart and funny, particularly if you’ve been subjected to the myriad number of hours of movie viewing. And at a running time of 44 minutes, it’ll entertain “Star Wars” fans of all ages as it gives you a Cliff Notes synopsis of the entire “Star Wars” saga.
Be sure to check out “Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” available on Disney+ beginning Tuesday, Nov. 17
3 1/2 Stars
Chuck says:
Playing like a greatest hits collection of key moments from the Star Wars saga, this is firmly pitched to the younger set as the structure is simple and the jokes obvious. To be sure, the Lego aesthetic is visually appealing and constantly interesting, yet the whole exercise seems lazy and uninspired, its raison d’etre being to move more Lego units during the Christmas season and little else.
Life Day brings more than a bit of angst for Rey as she’s doing her level best to teach Finn the ways of the Jedi. Unfortunately, he just ain’t gettin’ it. Despondent, she consults some ancient texts and finds that on Life Day, she can access a mystical key that allows her to travel to the past to witness key events in Jedi history so that she might get some pointers to get Finn up to speed.
What follows is a blurring trip through franchise history that finds Rey and her loyal droid BB-8 revisiting Obi-Wan Kenobi training Anakin and Luke Skywalker, the destruction of the first Death Star, pod races on Tatooine and just about any memorable scene you can bring to mind over the nine film series.
Every character, major or minor, pops up at one point or another, a fight between the Empire and Rebels featuring every key character-their young and older incarnations standing side-by-side – being the highlight. However it, as well as the other few spot-on moments, are far too brief. Much like the other Lego productions, the pacing is manic, as if the makers were under a time constraint to jam as many allusions as possible in the shortest amount of time. It proves much more distracting than inspiring, a mini-movie that only comes alive when it pokes fun at itself, which doesn’t occur often enough.
2 Stars
