Until I realised that it isn't made by the same people who did the films that I love so much, and the overall design looks like play-dough rather than LEGO because everything is eerily shiny and rubber-looking. I was hoping for a few jokes, a bit of whit and festive spirit, and instead, I was left with a forgettable 47 minutes of blandness.
As bad as the original Star Wars Holiday Special was, at least it was memorable. Not in the way that LucasFilm ever wanted, but still. To be honest, Disney probably made this so that people hopefully forget about the 70s disaster- but not me. Never.
Just like the original Star Wars Holiday Special, the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special also follows the celebration of Life Day, which is the Wookie equivalent of Christmas. And yes, there are LEGO versions of Chewbacca's family. No, they do not get enough screen time. Someone who does get too much screen time, however, is the terribly designed Yoda, who sounds like he is doing a very bad impression of Yoda.
I don't know how they managed to make him more like a cheap Halloween costume than a LEGO figure, but they did it. I think the LEGO version of Rose in this short 47-minute special got more screen time than in The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019) combined, which is pretty sad to say too. But anyway, back to the plot.
Rey is trying to teach Finn how to be a Jedi in an attempt to please the aggressive Star Wars fanboys who needed confirmation that Finn was force sensitive. She struggles to do so, goes to an ancient Jedi temple to get a key which allows her to travel back into Star Wars history to see how other Jedi Masters trained their students.
Through this, we get a weird collection of moments from Star Wars film and TV history, reminding us of better and worse days of Star Wars past. We get Rey helping Luke destroy the Death Star, we get podracing and we even get The Mandalorian. It also dips its toes into meme culture such as the Ben Swolo scene and Luke dribbling alien milk, which I would prefer not to be reminded of, thank you very much. Oh, and f**king Babu Frik.
[T]he LEGO Star Wars Special doesn't seem to have much of its own plot, it prefers to dip into other films to remind you of what Star Wars once was
Where's the festive element to this Holiday Special, you may ask. In the subplot where Poe (dressed in an excellent BB-8 Christmas jumper) is trying to make the perfect meal for Life Day. Yep, that's it. A smidgen of festivity.
Overall, the LEGO Star Wars Special doesn't seem to have much of its own plot, it prefers to dip into other films to remind you of what Star Wars once was. If you have a little sibling, they would probably like it if they've seen all the Star Wars films. If you are in your twenties upwards, the lack of a soul might put you off. If you are expecting the same quality as the LEGO Movie (2014), you will end up disappointed.
At this point, I think Disney are too afraid to make anything Star Wars related even mildly controversial to its fanbase, and went with the best cookie-cutter generic thing they could think of. Mission successful, merry Life Day, I guess.
Rating: 2/5 LEGO bricks
Featured Image: YouTube