I have never really been a big follower of the LEGO movie verse over the years, I’ll admit. I loved “LEGO Batman” and “The LEGO Movie” but that’s as far as it’s ever gone. LEGO and Star Wars have teamed up for a while to deliver prime kid content and this time they merge to offer up a Halloween themed movie that’s great for the holiday but also good for the young Star Wars fan. “Star Wars” isn’t exactly known for their spooky stories, but I think they do a very good job mixing their mythology with some horror themed elements. A lot of it proves to be actually quite clever.
Set after “The Rise of Skywalker,” we meet up with (my favorite newest “Star Wars” hero) Poe Dameron (voiced by Jake Green) and BB-8 clearing the galaxy of First Order stragglers. But they take a hit and crash land on Mustafar, which is where a certain Darth Vader once roamed. Hoping to repair their ship, they discover that Vader’s Castle is being renovated into a luxury getaway by Graballa the Hutt (Dana Snyder). Offering to have his young mechanic, Dean (Raphael Alejandro), fix Dameron’s X-wing in exchange for an endorsement, Graballa and the gang discovers inside the seemingly abandoned structure still resides Vader’s former servant, Vaneé (Tony Hale).
The visitors inspire Vaneé to share three cautionary tales of dark Force users, one for each Star Wars trilogy. The first, and my favorite tale titled “The Lost Boy” is a hilarious take on “The Lost Boys” in where we learn how Ben Solo became associated with the Knights of Ren. This short is essentially “The Lost Boys” but set to the tune of “Star Wars” with Ben being lured to the dark side by Knight Ren, who is a hilarious take on Keifer Sutherland’s vampire villain David. Christian Slater does a bang up Sutherland impression, and the animators stage a lot of classic scenes from the movie, including the hanging from the bridge sequence.
I loved it and canonical or not, it’s great to see how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren. “The Dueling Monstrosities” is a very funny look in to Darth Maul (the always great Sam Witwer) and General Grievous who are re-bricked into existence so they can search for the Saber of Scardont for their master Darth Sidious. There’s a lot of good references to Maul’s death in “Phantom Menace,” his adjustment to his robotic legs, his rivalry with Grievous, and there’s even a pretty cool light saber fight between the pair of mechanical Sith lords. Finally “The Wookie’s Paw” (a take on the classic urban legend “The Monkey’s Paw”) is the old fashioned alternate tale centered on young Luke Skywalker who garners a Wookie’s Paw from Watto.
Wishing to get off of Tattoine to become the best fighter pilot in the galaxy, this inadvertently steers him to the darkside where he becomes Vader’s apprentice, forcing him in to a new version of the Death Star run, this time with Ben Kenobi and Leia manning the X-Wings. “Terrifying Tales” is just a lot of fun, with clever twists on the classic “Star Wars” lore. While I’m fairly certain none of it is canon, it derives some great scenarios for fans to chew on.
Streaming Exclusively on Disney Plus.