Gandering into the looking glass of our childhood memories is something we all do. Whether it be waking up early on Christmas to open our presents, watching Star Wars, or building Lego sets, we all have some gleeful memories to look back on. Luckily, the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special combines many cheery elements from childhood and the holiday season, bringing them to Disney+.

After traveling to Kashyyyk (the Wookiee home world) on the Millenium Falcon to meet Chewbacca’s family for Life Day (the Star Wars equivalent of Christmas), Rey Skywalker (Helen Sadler) and her friends begin to prepare a meal.

Rey and Finn (Omar Benson Miller) decided to do some Jedi training while the others cooked the meal. Rey, new to being a Jedi herself, is struggling to be a good master to Finn. No matter how many times she pored into the Jedi Texts, she could not seem to find answers. Finally, Rey found an answer. 

On the ancient Jedi Temple of Kordoku, only on Life Day, there is a key to the Jedi’s past that makes their future become clear. Rey, with BB-8 as a co-pilot, decided to take an X-wing Starfighter to Kordoku. Rey promised she would be back before the day ended. 

Upon arrival at Kordoku, Rey and BB-8 had a difficult time finding the Jedi Temple. Once they found the Jedi Temple, they found the key. The key, a crystal of some sort (perhaps a Kyber crystal), can open a Force portal into the Galaxy’s past. With this tool, Rey can watch Jedi Masters from the past teach their Padawans (students). This tool, although useful, could be abominable in the wrong hands.

Throughout the film, there are numerous references to other Star Wars movies and shows that any fan would recognize: Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Anrold Taylor) saying, “Hello there,” is a classic line from Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope that is now in the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special as well. Other examples include a young Luke Skywalker (Eric Bauza) looking upon the setting binary suns of Tatooine as he did in A New Hope, Darth Maul (Ben Prendergast) being cut in half as he was by Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace, or Han Solo (AJ LoCascio) shooting Greedo (Jake Green) first as he did in A New Hope. 

The animation was spectacular; they kept it simple with a Lego theme, but it looked terrific. The voices were also spot-on. There were many returning cast members from previous Star Wars media, such as Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Dee Bradley Baker (Clone Troopers, Max Rebo), and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO). 

I would compare this movie to Elf because the humor can be enjoyed by all ages. I really enjoyed seeing so many characters in the same film. Many of the characters in the film were not even alive at the same time, but due to wonders of galactic time travel, it was possible. The themes of Life Day and Christmas are similar: they are meant to be spent with friends and family. 

This movie had an extraordinary message. I really enjoyed watching this with my brother; I plan to watch it again the next time the holidays roll around.