Critic Reviews

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.

What’s surprising is how moving “The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” ultimately becomes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.