The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special
disney+For the Star Wars universe fans, the mere mention of the infamous Holiday Special is sure to cause some sort of a reaction. So, Disney+’s production of a Lego Star Wars Holiday Special was either going to go down as the biggest joke in recent history or a wonderful and early Christmas present. In reality, it’s actually a bit of both.
Set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, our heroes – Rey (Helen Sadler), Finn (Omar Miller), Poe (Jake Green), Chewbacca and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran reprising her role from the franchise) – live in what seems to be the Galaxy’s only peaceful time in recent memory. They are prepping a party for Life Day, which is a Wookie holiday that celebrates family. Rey is struggling to join in as everything she has learned from the Jedi texts isn’t enough for her to teach Finn the ways of the Force. Abandoning the Millenium Falcon squad, she and BB-8 search for answers and stumble across a stone that has the ability to transport people through time.
At first, it seems things are pretty simple. Rey spies on Yoda’s – Tom Kane voices this Lego version which sports an awkwardly distracting CGI head – training with Luke (Eric Bauza) on Dagobah in order to pick up on tips. She carries on her journey through some of the Star Wars saga highlights, until things get messy. The time-hopping antics unravel at a rapid rate and it’s not long before multiple versions of the franchise’s characters all end up in a huge desert battle on Tatooine.
These jumps through the old films are a lot of fun, jam packed with inside jokes and meme references. It also results in moments any Star Wars fan would love to see on the big screen – two versions of Han Solo taking on Greedo, Yoda’s Force ghost interacting with Rey and a lightsaber duel between Kylo Ren and Darth Vader. Whilst all this is going on, however, Poe is leading the gang in an unsuccessful attempt to throw the greatest Life Day party ever. This is a thinly constructed subplot that adds little to the film other than tying it into the Holiday Special theme.
The film could have easily consisted of a smorgasbord of epic Star Wars moments and characters thrust together. However, the Lego Holiday Special takes itself seriously enough to divulge in some plot; the time travelling stone ends up catching the eye of a Return of the Jedi era Emperor Palpatine (Trevor Devall). There’s enough ante to justify this film’s existence – in regards to the rest of it, the jokes aren’t particularly funny and Sadler’s imitation of Rey’s voice is so overly done she occasionally sounds like she’s been punched in the stomach.
The fun of this little animated 45-minute short comes from its messy and unapologetic time meddling, resulting in one of the biggest questions raised: Is The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special is canon, or not?