Happy Life Day!
To celebrate, today The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special was released on Disney+, telling a story of Rey and her friends in the time after The Rise of Skywalker!
In the special, Rey trains Finn as a Jedi while Poe and the others get ready to welcome Chewbacca’s family for Life Day. But Rey feels that she is failing as a teacher, which sends her on a quest for a Jedi Temple where she might find answers. There, she finds a key that sends her throughout various eras and locations iconic to the Star Wars saga. In the process, however, she winds up attracting the unwanted attention of Emperor Palpatine, who dispatches Darth Vader to retrieve the key so that he can reign as the Emperor forever. Through these adventures, Rey comes to learn some very valuable lessons from Master Yoda and must race to save the galaxy – plus return to Kashyyyk in time to celebrate Life Day with her friends.
This special is cute, fun, entertaining, funny, and heartwarming – it’s a major win. Don’t come into this expecting some major canon story, but if you come into this expecting an entertaining and fun story, it won’t disappoint.
There are some genuinely funny jokes (in typical LEGO fashion), poking funs at all sorts of Star Wars moments. It honestly didn’t reference the original and infamous Holiday Special as much as I expected, but there were certainly some nods, while the basic plot revolving around Life Day is obviously the same.
The animation was stunning, and I don’t think these LEGO specials have ever looked better than they do here. This special looks fantastic. The music is also tremendous, featuring some familiar tunes in a wonderful composition. And the story was quite enjoyable; it manages to combine familiar and iconic Star Wars moments with some classic and iconic Christmas feelings, making this a fitting holiday special.
As we’ve come to expect from LEGO, there are some great jokes that don’t feel forced but are well-timed and genuinely funny. You’ve got Ackbar saying, “It’s a wrap!”, you’ve got three Obi-Wan Kenobi’s saying “Hello there” to one another, and so much more that this is just barely scratching the surface. And yet many times parodies of Star Wars just tend to focus on the same low-hanging fruit that some fans pick on repeatedly, but this special doesn’t give in to that temptation. Nothing in the saga is off-limits, and while there of course is a Jar-Jar joke and poking some subtle fun at Palpatine’s survival in The Rise of Skywalker, this doesn’t at all feel like something that just wants to pick on some of the lesser-liked moments in the saga. No, instead, this is a special that honors the legacy of Star Wars while being meta enough to be able to laugh at it. It is so artistically done.
It’s not just funny, however, but also moving. As many holiday shows and movies are, this special sets out to tell a heartwarming story of important lessons learned, and Rey comes to learn that the key to being a good master is not just knowing all of the right information but about caring for your apprentice and embracing the friendship that comes therein. This is a story about the importance of friendship, and Rey comes to realize that through Master Yoda’s teaching – in a moment very reminiscent of A Christmas Carol.
Star Wars fans looking for a lighthearted yet heartwarming tale will surely enjoy this. It’s fun for the whole family, and it is a wonderful way to celebrate this holiday season as we remember that the true meaning of Life Day is friendships. This special is really well-done and a lot of fun!
And I mean, come on, it also gave us this moment:
Star Wars Thoughts 