The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special
  • Network: Disney+
  • Series Premiere Date: Nov 17, 2020
Metascore
65

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
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Critic Reviews

  1. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Christian Blauvelt
    Nov 17, 2020
    91
    What’s surprising is how moving “The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” ultimately becomes.
  2. Collider
    Reviewed by: Drew Taylor
    Nov 16, 2020
    91
    It’s funny and zippy and puts the life back in Life Day. If there was anything that could rehab the stigma of the original Star Wars Holiday Special, this is it.
  3. CNN
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Nov 16, 2020
    75
    The 1978 "Star Wars Holiday Special" has become the stuff of legend for how notoriously, epically bad it was, which provides some indication that "The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special" -- with that title alone -- knows precisely what it's doing. The resulting animated hour delivers a clever romp through "Star Wars" history, smartly snapped together and wrapped in a bright, colorful bow.
  5. Decider
    Reviewed by: Brett White
    Nov 17, 2020
    70
    It’s not a new classic, but it’s nice that Star Wars fans finally have something watchable to put on during the holiday season.
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: Will Thorne
    Nov 16, 2020
    70
    At the end of the (Life) day, “The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” is a fun, self-contained adventure which feels a few bricks short of a full “Star Wars” load. It will keep the lockdown blues at bay for 40 minutes, but it certainly won’t cure fans’ nagging uncertainty over when the next title scrawl will be marching down the big screen.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Angelica Cataldo
    Nov 16, 2020
    67
    The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special amps up that cheesiness in the best way possible, taking all the bad with the good, in a charming ode to the 1978 television special.
  8. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Robert Levin
    Nov 16, 2020
    63
    Parents looking to share their "Star Wars" love with their children should add this to the list. It's not essential viewing for anyone else.
  9. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Jen Chaney
    Nov 17, 2020
    40
    A new Disney+ offering that arrives on the platform on the 42nd anniversary of that other Life Day extravaganza and is mediocre in the sort of unimaginative, promo-tainment ways that have become commonplace in the modern era.
  10. RogerEbert.com
    Reviewed by: Simon Abrams
    Nov 16, 2020
    40
    “The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” is a studiously inoffensive mess, being both self-conscious and desperate-to-please, but also unfocused and un-funny.

Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Most Shared TV Season of 2020

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 13 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 13
  3. Negative: 3 out of 13
  1. TheQuietGamer
    Jul 6, 2021
    7
    If they were intent on revisiting the "Life Day" concept these 42 years later, doing so under the LEGO brand was undoubtedly the right move.If they were intent on revisiting the "Life Day" concept these 42 years later, doing so under the LEGO brand was undoubtedly the right move. It allows them to fully revel in just how absurd the idea of a Star Wars themed holiday special is without having any effect on the actual continuity. For the most part it's a bunch of meaningless fluff. Cute, but unlikely to stand alongside the likes of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as your next yearly seasonal rewatch. It's worth checking out once though.

    Children are definitely the target audience for this special as most of the humor doesn't evolve much beyond "haha, look at this character doing a silly dance." Still, older viewers can find amusement in things like the more clever references to the series' history or how it absolutely ridicules the sequel trilogy. I'm actually surprised Disney allowed this to be made given how much it skewers their biggest contribution to the franchise. Seriously, writer David Shayne seems to harbor the same amount of disdain for J.J. Abrams' vision of Star Wars as Rian Johnson.

    The Rise of Skywalker receives most of the abuse here as the special goes out of its way to ignore the events of that movie despite being set after it. If you remove the silliness and non-canon nature of the project it would actually make for a better episode 9 than the one we got. The subplot of Rey training Finn to be a jedi feels like something we actually should have seen happen at some point in that trilogy and it introduces Emperor Palpatine to the mix in a far more satisfying manner than Abrams did.

    None of this will exactly leave you clamoring for more, but if you're a hardcore member of the fan base or a more casual appreciator with kids who share your enthusiasm you can pop this on one Christmas season and not feel like you wasted your time. It offers some genuinely funny moments while showing a willingness for the franchise to acknowledge its missteps and poke some healthy fun at them. So in a way, Life Day has kind of been redeemed here.

    7.3/10    … Full Review »
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