It’s The Goonies meets Treasure Island in the best Disney+ Star Wars series since The Mandalorian.
Plot: The journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy. Finding their way home—and meeting unlikely allies and enemies—will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.
Review: Set after the events of Return of the Jedi in the same period as The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has been promoted as a series in the tradition of Amblin projects like The Goonies, Gremlins, and Back to the Future. Aiming to recapture the childlike adventure and spirit of the 1980s films of Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and more, Skeleton Crew is a fantastic and unique foray into the world of Star Wars that is far different from what we have seen in the Disney-era of Lucasfilm. While we have seen Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni mine nostalgia for George Lucas’ films and expansions featuring Ahsoka Tano as well as the one-and-done foray into The High Republic-era with The Acolyte, Skeleton Crew offers the first kid-centric Star Wars project but without being a project for children. Solid action and practical effects elevate Skeleton Crew into an exciting and refreshing addition to Star Wars that mines the franchise’s mythology without regurgitating the same formula.
As the trailers have shown, Skeleton Crew centers on a quartet of pre-teens living in an idyllic world called Ad Atta. Looking like suburbia in a galaxy far, far away, Ad Atta is run by a structured governing body led by an unseen supervisor. Everyone has a job that serves The Great Work, a project to protect peace and prosperity in the Republic. As the kids prepare to take a test to determine their future careers, they discover a spaceship buried in the woods outside their town. Among the kids are Wim (Ravi Cabot Conyers), a dreamer who wants to be a protector like the Jedi in his storybooks. Wim’s best friend Neel (Dear Santa‘s Robert Timothy Smith) is an Ortolan who is a good kid who tries not to get led astray. The two run into headstrong Fern (Firestarter‘s Ryan Kiera Armstrong), daughter of Fara (Kerry Condon), and her best friend KB (Kyriana Kratter). The four kickstart the ship and blast off on an adventure away from their home planet.
In the first three episodes of the eight-episode series, the four kids are guided to a pirate base by a droid named SM-33 (voiced by Nick Frost), where they encounter Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law). Jod Na has Force abilities, leading Wim to assume he is a Jedi, something Jod Na does not try to dissuade him from believing. Pretty quickly, Jod Na’s identity is divulged, but whether that is really who he is remains to be seen. We can tell that Jod Na has his reasons for helping the kids escape and find their way home, but how that factors into the main story is more complex than the difference between good and bad. The influences on Skeleton Crew are heavy on pirate lore, especially the classic novel Treasure Island, with references to the ideas of buried loot, swashbucklers, and thieves key to the ship’s origin the kids found in their backyard. The plot is also heavy with a mystery that I will not divulge here that connects this series to not only the main Star Wars films but to the idea of The Old Republic as well.
Some may hesitate to check out Skeleton Crew, thinking that the series is a “kid’s show.” With solid action, this series is anything but a sanitized program for younger viewers. The young actors are all solid performers who hold their own in their individual scenes and those shared with adult cast members. Jude Law is quite good in a role that is not easy to pin down in the early chapters. Law is a great actor, and his work as Captain Hook in Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy echoes his role here. The stakes are high, and the action is on par with other Star Wars projects to date. In fact, the visual look of this series is better than we have seen on any Disney+ series so far. I have some issues with the Stagecraft technology used here, as it does not look as realistic as in prior projects. Still, the use of matte paintings, physical puppets, and make-up, overseen by Industrial Light & Magic icon Phil Tippet, gives this series the most tangible feel of a Star Wars project since the prequel films.
Created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, who penned six of the eight episodes alongside Myung Joh Wesner (High Potential) on the remaining two, Skeleton Crew is more reminiscent of Watts and Ford’s work on Cop Car and Spider-Man: Homecoming. The kids act like kids and talk naturally rather than spouting dialogue written by adults who have no idea how young people would speak or react. Watts directed the first and last episode of the series, with the second and third chapters directed by David Lowery. Lowery has experience with Disney, having helmed Peter Pan & Wendy, and Pete’s Dragon. His two episodes heavily use physical effects and are more Star Wars-esque than Watts’ premiere episode, which feels more like the Amblin influences the Wolfs director discussed in press for the project. The remaining episodes are directed by The Daniels (Everything, Everywhere All At Once), Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank), Bryce Dallas Howard (The Mandalorian), and Lee Isaac Chung (Twisters), giving Skeleton Crew the most lauded batch of directors of any Star Wars or Disney+ series to date. The score by Mick Giacchino, son of composer Michael Giacchino, proves the young musician definitely follows in his father’s footsteps.
While I have seen less than half Skeleton Crew, I am cautiously optimistic. My prior reviews for the Star Wars series on Disney+ have started out very positive, but I was underwhelmed once the full season aired and the project failed to stick to the landing. Aside from Andor, none of the Star Wars live-action projects have been consistent for their entire season runs, but Skeleton Crew feels different. Aside from references to The Republic, The Jedi, and some X-Wings, Skeleton Crew exists within the world of Star Wars and includes many species we have seen before but forges a story that does not rely on nostalgia for existing films or characters. Jon Watts and Christopher Ford have made Skeleton Crew into a cinematic exploration of Star Wars across a series format. I look forward to seeing how this story unfolds and if it can maintain the fun we get in the first three chapters. Skeleton Crew is a return to form for Lucasfilm and the most fun I have had with Star Wars in a very long time.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premieres with two episodes on December 2nd on Disney+.
