Mary Ludwig

Unpopular opinion here: I am struggling with this series. The characters all feel very juvenile. The first and probably biggest problem is Lea’a acting. She’s a cute kid, don’t get me wrong. But the entire series depends on us believing that Lea is a fiery girl with maturity beyond her years. She does not pull this off well. I see a cute little girl desperately trying to act. Every adult in the show ends up feeling cartoonish as they try to work around her. (Not unlike every other movie in the sequel/prequels.) The second major problem with this series is the over exaggerated evil nature of the character Reva. She is the classic pointy-mustached evil character of children’s movies. One can’t but wonder if all she really needs to be defeated is a Jogan Fruit pie in the face, a push into a pile of bantha fodder, or maybe, if the situation becomes dire enough, a bucket of blue milk poured on her from the cargo hold of a YT-1300 light freighter. Besides the problems with these two key characters, she show is fun. I do like the character arch of Obi Wan. Ewan McGregor is excellent, as always. I am thoroughly enjoying the character arch of Obi Wan, and the bridge between his past and future self seems believable. I do have questions about what it is that ages Obi Wan at least 30 years in the next 10. But, nothing is perfect. Overall, a fun family film that my Star Wars loving husband can enjoy just as much as my six year old.