Based on a couple of examples now, the LEGO Star Wars universe as shepherded by director Ken Cunningham and writer David Shayne is just not on my wavelength. Last year, the creative team worked on The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, which felt like a half-hearted effort built almost entirely around a bunch of references that congratulated Star Wars fans for their knowledge.
This time around, the Halloween-themed LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales doubles down on that formula, while also congratulating people while somehow managing not to be particularly funny or particularly scary.
The basic set-up finds Poe Dameron (Jake Green) and BB-8 crash-landed on a planet where an entrepreneurial Hutt named Graballa (Dana Snyder) is converting an old Sith fortress into a themed hotel. But there’s also a former Sith apprentice named Vaneé (Tony Hale) on-site, whose interest in finding lost Sith artifacts leads him to share a trio of vaguely cautionary tales.
Those stories are, in theory, the “terrifying tales” promised by the title, each one gives its own title and completely separate plot. “The Lost Boy” speculates on young Ben Solo’s departure from Jedi training with Luke to join the Knights of Ren; “The Dueling Monstrosities” finds a revived Darth Maul battling General Grievous for a powerful lightsaber; and “The Wookie’s Paw” turns the classic W.W. Jacobs horror story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” into a tale of young Luke Skywalker tempted to greater power.
If that format sounds familiar, it might be because it owes a lot to the classic “Treehouse of Horror” Halloween episodes of The Simpsons. Those episodes, however, actually did try to get a little scary at times, which this 45-minute special has no interest in doing. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if it seemed to have any particular tone as its goal. While a couple of the jokes land—particularly knowing references to the Disney universe being very interested in getting people to buy merchandise—this mostly feels like a slight spin on the current Marvel What If? series, only with familiar parts of the Star Wars universe. They’re generally straight-faced, and lacking a real spark of imagination.
The biggest disappointment for these LEGO Star Wars offerings is that they don’t seem at all interested in taking advantage of the particular creative opportunities of LEGOs. Occasionally, you’ll get a well-thought-out moment, like a townsperson preparing for a marauding band by “boarding up” their windows with additional bricks. But those bits of creativity are rare; it mostly seems like these same stories could be told in any animation format.
Some viewers are bound to find more entertainment in these Star Wars universe spin-offs, and the safely light-hearted appeal it might hold for younger kids. It just feels like Disney+ had a couple of holiday targets to hit with a licensed intellectual property, and did so dutifully. The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie, and other theatrical cousins showed you can deliver real humor and energy in this format. So far, LEGO Star Wars on Disney+ does not have that Force with them.
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Let’s Hear From You
Have you been watching the LEGO Star Wars entries on Disney+? Do you think it has the same sense of humor and storytelling prowess as The LEGO Movie or LEGO Batman? When you think of LEGO Star Wars, does it seem odd they’d try to do something scary? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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