LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy Is Silly Fun

Rebuild The Galaxy Is Much Better Than It Seemed

Rebuild The Galaxy was an absolute treat. A series that has no business being as good, as dramatic, and as funny as it is. Though it was already clear from several Lego movies that the “medium” of those bricks could result in good storytelling, this once again blew me away.

Though I have to say Rebuild the Galaxy is not made for people who don’t already know Star Wars. It is an absolutely loving spoof/mash-up of other Star Wars creations. There are callbacks, puns, and twists that really only work if you have seen pretty much every major movie and television series.

Fortunately, I fit that criterion. So, from the first episode onward, I could get behind what the story was trying to do. I could see how it took the classic Star Wars formula of a farmer boy getting involved in a larger, galactic struggle—and I could appreciate how it deviated from that origin to tell a broader, more fantasy-oriented tale. It’s more like a superhero movie. It’s more Marvel in its presentation. The world is at stake, for one thing, and the Force is somehow used even more.

The Movie Doesn’t Entirely Follow A Star Wars Plot

Rebuild the Galaxy is also distinctly about Lego. It focuses on building things and on the creativity of making something new. The premise is honestly a very effective way of putting that into a Star Wars narrative. Basically, there’s a magical object that holds the galaxy together. Literally. It’s a Lego brick. And, when our main character pulls that brick free, it unravels the entire Star Wars universe and replaces it with a new one—where pretty much everything is different. 

And by different, I mean as silly as possible. But played remarkably straight. Most of the jokes aren’t lingered on, and the series simply expects the audience to get the jokes. I would say more, but I don’t want to spoil any more than the trailer does. The reveals are some of the best parts of Rebuild the Galaxy.

But it’s not all silliness. Rebuild the Galaxy is somehow also a fun action series at times. The lightsaber and Force fights are a little limited by everyone being Lego—though even those have some good moments—but the ship battles are just amazing. The ships are detailed, the animation ramps up in quality for the dogfights, and there’s a real sense of tension. Somehow, even in a very kid-friendly version of Star Wars, characters can die.

Rebuild The Galaxy Has Surprisingly Good Battles

It’s also got interesting meta-commentary regarding the usual Star Wars universe. Mainly in the scenes with Luke. Characters are way too willing to accept that reality has changed, but people actually react in interesting ways to learning how their lives were before. Even the core conflict between two of the new characters—brothers on either side of The Force—deals with the nature of stories. It’s examining how immutable stories can/can’t be. I’m not saying this is a prominent part of the silly spoof series, but you can tell that this was written by people who care about the project.

And that care also shines through with how few complaints I have. And most of those complaints stem from the story being unable to change other installments. It maintains Star Wars’ usual issues. It’s got characters coming out of nowhere to save each other. It has the unfortunate visual motif of “evil makes you look different” that’s present in any given Sith character. And, more unique to Rebuild The Galaxy, there are issues like including a comic relief character where one isn’t needed, an extremely rushed ending, an undeserved dig at The Book of Boba Fett, and some moments of pure luck solving plot problems.

But I was never having a bad time with Rebuild the Galaxy. It’s charming and creative and made me genuinely laugh several times. Mark Hamill even voices Lego Luke! I would happily show it to any Star Wars fan and hope the ending tease of another season ends up happening.

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