Critic Reviews

Skeleton Crew has a stunning variety of aliens and showcases all sorts of weird little guys that are imaginatively designed. With the franchise usually being rather human-centric, it’s great to see this show capture the magic of seeing the Mos Eisley Cantina sequence for the first time. The dynamic between Fern and Wim is fantastic

While originality is at a premium, Skeleton Crew has enough charm to skate by on.

It's a series trying very hard to walk the line between good old-fashioned kid movie fun and genuine "Star Wars" galaxy-building, and so far at least, it's doing it quite well.

Jon Watts’ Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is exactly what the franchise needed.

Although its coming-of-age narrative is far less boundary-breaking than Watts and Ford’s pitch seems to suggest — hugely powerful juvenile heroes and their gruff babysitters were already the backbone of the Disney+/Lucasfilm brand — the series is lively and fun. The generally low-stakes, thematically light, young-skewing romp takes us into under-explored corners of the seemingly boundless galaxy while feeling pleasantly familiar.

If you want an adventure to take you back to childhood, something that feels a bit nostalgic and a bit of escapism amid the general state of the world in the lead-up to Christmas, give it a go...After all, the show does the job and does it well. Is it perfect? Nah. Is it the best Star Wars show of all time? Nope! But is it a lot of fun? Absolutely.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is beautifully-made and sweetly innocent, making it a radically rebellious take on a franchise that sometimes seems lost in its own lore.

The creators have described this coming-of-age tale as their love letter to Eighties adventure films, citing those by Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin (such as The Goonies, Gremlins and ET: the Extra-Terrestrial) as their inspiration. This series captures the same spirit and, in that sense, it represents more than Star Wars. It’s an adventure centred on kids but not exclusively for them, something of a rarity in the schedules. It deserves to be celebrated, especially when the thrills are this good.

A solidly-crafted piece of all-ages entertainment, with good direction from Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming) and David Lowery (The Green Knight), and some fun set pieces. It’s telling an actual story, and telling it well enough that it doesn’t feel like a glorified version of a Star Wars theme park ride. You just have to be prepared going in for things like Sam and Neel’s neighborhood being blatantly modeled on the one from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial; for there to be various early scenes of kids on bikes in the woods (a la E.T. and The Goonies); and even for the title font to, like the one from the similarly Eighties-obsessed Stranger Things, evoke the books of Stephen King. It wears its influences with obvious pride, hearkening back to a slightly less long time ago, and a cul-de-sac within fairly close proximity.

With a collection of assured directors, a cast of fine young actors, and Jude Law as the material’s untrustworthy swashbuckler, it’s a family affair which captures some of that old far, far away magic.